Understanding Society Podcast Series

In the fourth episode of our podcast series, we look take a look at the role of social action in civic participation. Series host Catherine McDonald speaks to Dr Stuart Fox from Brunel University about his research looking at whether volunteering makes young people more likely to vote in their first election. Catherine then moves on to talk to Victoria Harkness, Head of Research and Evaluation at the National Citizen Service Trust about the Trust’s experience of young people and their levels of civic participation.

In the third episode of our new podcast series, we take a look at the health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Series host Catherine McDonald speaks to Professor Meena Kumari, Understanding Society’s Topic Champion for Health and Biomarker research and to David Finch, Assistant Director in the Healthy Lives directorate at The Health Foundation.Together they discuss Understanding Society’s COVID-19 survey and The Health Foundation’s COVID-19 Impact inquiry. They look at what the pandemic has highlighted with regard to the social determinants of health and they share their biggest fears as we move out of the initial clutches of COVID-19.

With the topic area of income and expenditure for the second episode in our new podcast series, we take a look at Universal Credit – how it’s designed, how it compares to the old benefits legacy system and the effects it has on people’s lives. Series host Catherine McDonald speaks to Tom Waters, Senior Research Economist from the Institute for Fiscal Studies about research that used Understanding Society data to take a longitudinal look at Universal Credit. With first-hand experience of supporting people on Universal Credit, Kayley Hignell, Head of Policy for Families, Welfare and Work at Citizens Advice, responds to the research and shares her view on how one of the biggest benefit reforms in UK history is playing out. You can read Tom’s research here via the Understanding Society publications library.