COVID-19

Johan Christensen, and Sarah Brown, discuss the sudden demand for experts during the COVID-19 pandemic and how much influence these experts actually have over public policies.…Read more

Jane Lewis, author of 'The Challenge of Controlling COVID-19', explains the failures to control the first wave of COVID-19, focusing on the test and trace system and the part played by longstanding structural problems in public health, as well as the government’s reactive, inconsistent and highly-centralised approach.…Read more

Anna Tarrant, Linzi Ladlow and Laura Way talk about the research they’ve done on the effects of the lockdowns on young fathers in the UK.…Read more

Joshua Rozenberg, author of 'Enemies of the People?', discusses whether any UK court would give the government's maximum 10-year prison sentence for lying about where you have travelled from.…Read more

Jonathan Wistow follows up on his article from last year to explain how COVID-19 represents a certain continuity in the operation of the social contract established in response to it. He looks at state intervention, health inequality, the ‘chumocracy’ and private sector contracts. …Read more

Richard Phillips, co-author of 'Creative Writing for Social Research', describes his own creative writing journey, both as participant and workshop coordinator, and explains the sense of discovery that creative writing can offer social research. …Read more

Why are Black and minority ethnic women at particular risk of domestic abuse during lockdown? Launching the report 'Domestic violence during the lockdown: the needs of Black and minoritised communities during the pandemic', Aisha K. Gill and Sundari Anitha outline the issues specific to minority women, from forced marriage, rejection by refuges and reduced contact with support agencies. …Read more

Lyn Tett and Mary Hamilton, editors of 'Resisting Neoliberalism in Education', call for a new direction in education, expanding access to online resources, prioritising ALL learner perspectives and harnessing the creativity brought by new voices to the policy table.…Read more

Rajiv Prabhakar, author of 'Financial Inclusion', outlines some of the reasons for the tensions between academics and policy makers, and calls for a better understanding of how these groups can help each other, whether in the field of financial inclusion or COVID-19 public health policy.…Read more

An extract from Charlotte Faircloth, Katherine Twamley and Humera Iqbal's 'Families, Relationships and Societies' article on the methodological and ethical challenges of researching family life during a pandemic.…Read more