Real voices

With this year's Project for Awesome starting today, Martha Gleeson, Digital Marketing Coordinator at Bristol University Press, explores the impact the project has had and the often hidden power of engaged, online communities.…Read more

Zoe Young, author of Women’s Work: How Mothers Manage Flexible Working in Careers and Family Life speaks to Jess Miles about work-life balance being an unattainable dream and how choice is an illusion for professional mothers. They discuss how policy and organisation change can make flexible working arrangements ‘work’ for women and families, and for Read More

In this episode we tell Amara’s story, about her dreams, and how fragile these are when your childhood is overshadowed by debt. Amara’s story is followed by a discussion between the authors of the book, Sorcha Mahony and Larissa Pople, along with Sam Royston, all from The Children’s Society, and Jess Miles, from Bristol University Read More

In this podcast we’re telling Alex’s story, about debt, grief and loss, and how life can spiral out of control. This is the second in a series of podcasts that examines what life is like for families stuck in problem debt. The stories are taken from Life in the Debt Trap by Sorcha Mahony and Larissa Read More

What is life like for families who are stuck in problem debt? Why do they fall into a spiral of debt in the first place, and why is it so hard to escape? This podcast tells Stella’s story, about debt and isolation, and the impact that debt has across the whole family. This is the Read More

John Brenton, Sustainability Manager at Bristol University, shares his thoughts on The Economics of Arrival by Katherine Trebeck and Jeremy Williams.…Read more

Wanting to change the world was not common in Egyptian culture. I went into the poorest areas, where the women ‘waste pickers’ were collecting garbage. I wanted to work with them as they have nothing. If their husband dies, leaves them, or disappears, they either have to get remarried or become a prostitute and the kids become destitute. They have no choice. I wanted to help them have a choice.…Read more

Sarah Breaux, Senior Executive Assistant at Bristol University Press, shares her thoughts on The Right Amount of Panic by Fiona Vera-Gray. Reading this book enabled me to think back on my experiences as a woman and evaluate the evolution of my behaviour over time. I had never thought about it as a continuous aspect of Read More

Capturing the voices, views and experiences of children and young people directly and involving them more actively in the research process are increasingly seen as essential for good social research, evaluation, policy and service development. Often, the perspectives of children and young people are filtered through the interpretations of adults: with either parents or carers Read More

Generation Share: The change-makers building the Sharing Economy by Benita Matofska and Sophie Sheinwald is out this month. The book takes readers on a journey around the globe to meet the people who are changing lives by building a Sharing Economy. Haitham Deeb who is a 30-year-old Palestinian, a farmer, a football player for the Read More