Global social challenges
There are multiple interlocking crises currently gripping the planet. Significant threats and dangers lie ahead of us, but so do opportunities, as new ways of being, thinking, and doing emerge.
This stream of Transforming Society is a space for exploring the complexities of the global social challenges across disciplines and fields. It seeks to build and share the knowledge needed to shape a fairer world, across and for the global south and north, hoping to foster dialogue between academics, practitioners, policy makers and the wider public.

Tim Bodley-Scott and Ersel Oymak discuss how important strategic alliances are between universities, industry, government and civil society in addressing the world’s challenges and in the drive towards the UN SDGs. …Read more

Daniel Briggs, Luke Telford, Anthony Ellis and Anthony Lloyd explain why Social Science has such a crucial role in responding to the pandemic, thinking critically about the changing relationship between states and citizens, tracking the impact of inequalities, and making sense of the new world. …Read more

Toni Prug, Paško Bilić and Mislav Žitko explain why it doesn’t make sense to challenge tech companies’ monopoly in the name of perfect competition.…Read more

Mark Pendras and Charles Williams consider what the COVID-19 effect will be on urban configurations, as health anxieties and working from home norms cause demographic shifts to secondary cities, compounding gentrification and displacement.…Read more

Yee Man Louie, RMIT University in Melbourne, explores the unique challenges culturally and linguistically diverse communities face when experiencing domestic violence and reflects on her own lived experiences.…Read more

Based on 'Why Travel: Understanding our Need to Move and How it Shapes our Lives', by Matthew Niblett and Kris Beuret, this policy briefing covers key messages and policy recommendations around the need to update travel demand analysis and appraisal.…Read more

Gwennaelle Horlait outlines the work of ATD Fourth World which offers peer support, knowledge and experiences to overcome poverty in 34 countries around the world.…Read more

Luke Cooper, author of 'Authoritarian Contagion', traces the rise and fall of neoliberalism as a popular ideology, to be replaced in many countries by a nationalistic ‘authoritarian protectionism’ – a claim to protection no longer based on merit, but on membership of the in-group.…Read more

The need to care for all citizens regardless of background is ever more critical. Bristol University Press Chief Executive Alison Shaw marks 25 years of publishing for social change.…Read more

Baltica Cabieses, Professor of Social Epidemiology, Universidad del Desarrollo Chile and Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Health at the University of York, talks to Publisher Philippa Grand about her dual experience as a researcher in both North and South contexts and how we can start to address inequalities in knowledge production.…Read more