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.
Diana Pietrzak and Vincent Dupont examine how, despite "sustainability" initiatives and ethical labels, the cocoa industry perpetuates deep inequalities, with farmers stuck in poverty while multinational corporations profit, and argue that true change requires dismantling the structures that sustain this imbalance.…Read more
With the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the accession of King Charles, Britain has entered a new era — and questions about the future of the monarchy have become more pressing. In this episode, George Miller talks to Laura Clancy about the questions she think we should be asking about the monarchy in 21st-century Britain.…Read more
David Simon and Bianca Vienni-Baptista show how new collaborative approaches are transforming research to better address global challenges.…Read more
Rodney Scott, author of 'Contemporary Public Administration in New Zealand', demonstrates that improving public services depends on cultivating a strong culture of public service values, rather than forcing them to imitate the private sector …Read more
In this episode, George Miller talks to journalist and media commentator Jon Allsop about the challenges confronting journalism today and how he went about exploring them in his new book, What is Journalism For?…Read more
In early 2025, Israel’s ongoing destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system was exposed as 'medelacide', the deliberate targeting of medical infrastructure.…Read more
Martin Parker, editor of 'Life After COVID-19', hoped the pandemic might spark lasting change, but entrenched power and economic interests drove a return to business as usual, revealing that real progress demands active, sustained effort. …Read more
In this episode of our Transforming Business podcast series with Martin Parker, Carl Rhodes explains the dangerous and deceptive myths which portray billionaires as a ‘force for good’.…Read more
Everybody wants to change the world, but can we actually make a difference? In the first episode of our Transforming Business podcast series with Martin Parker, Jane Holgate and John Page, authors of 'Changemakers: Radical Strategies for Social Movement Organising', discuss the power of activism and challenge the belief that change is impossible.…Read more
Peter Beresford, author of 'The Antidote', suggests that the recent attacks on EDI is a strategy to divide and control, but unity is the key to resistance.…Read more