The speed of fright: research in a six minute slideshow

by Rob McNeil

The joy of academia, for many, is the attention to detail. The sort of attention to detail that allows us to luxuriate over the minutiae and nuances of an issue for hours, days, months, years – sometimes even entire lifetimes.

Most people, of course, don’t have this luxury so, for the 2018 ESRC Festival of Social Science, we decided to try to speed things up a bit.

In fact, we decided to get 11 speakers to explain everything you could possibly want to know about the fiendishly complex issue of EU migration in just 72 minutes…

Are we achieving gender equality? Can we do more?

by Emma Jeanes

Gender equality is firmly back on the public agenda. Unless you’ve switched off the television and radio, disconnected from social media and abandoned the printed press you can’t fail to notice that gender equality and related topics of sexual harassment, that disproportionately affects women, are regular topics of conversation. Social media has played a crucial role in spreading the word, with many campaigns such as #MeToo and #HeForShe drawing attention to gender inequality, and coalescing support to tackle it. This is all fantastic news and a step in the right direction. What is also heartening is the role men are playing in this as women cannot address gender inequality on their own.

Mine your data – why understanding online health communities matters

Dr Aude Bicquelet is a Research Director in the Health team at NatCen – the National Centre for Social Research. Aude specialises in the analysis of ‘Big Qualitative Data’ on health-related issues and has worked with professional and regulatory health bodies such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the Royal College of Physicians. 

In November, Aude presented findings from a recent study looking into how people use social media to discuss health issues at the ESRC Festival of Social Science.

A staggering 73% of adults in the UK turn to the internet when experiencing health problems. Whether it is to check symptoms, find out about available treatments or share experiences about living with a particular condition, the internet has become the first port of call with many turning to the web before they even consider going to see a doctor.

Discovering diet and exploring eating with UK teenagers

Dr Peter Hovard is currently working as a Behavioural Insights Consultant, and was previously part of the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) team based at NatCen.

As part of the ESRC’s Festival of Social Science 2016, the NDNS team ran an interactive session with a group of teenagers studying AS-level sociology. Here Peter explains how the students got involved and what made the day successful.

Children are not meeting many health targets, with teenagers being the main offenders with unhealthy eating. In fact, using figures from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS), Cancer Research UK calculated that UK teenagers drink enough fizzy drinks to fill a bathtub each year.

Organising more than 270 Festival of Social Science events – a personal perspective

Sue Haydock is Communications Officer at ESRC, and manager of the annual ESRC Festival of Social Science. Here she gives an insight into the work that goes on behind the scenes all year round to make the Festival – this year involving more than 270 events across the UK – a success.

 

 

 

The ESRC’s Festival of Social Science is a week-long celebration of the social sciences, with events taking place across the UK, from Scotland to Cornwall and from Kent to Northern Ireland. It takes place each year, usually over the first full week of November.