Lord Chris Patten is one of Britain’s big political beasts – not only as a commentator, thinker and writer, but he has had a formidable career where he has put ideas into action. He has been a British cabinet minister, chair of the Conservative party, European Commissioner for External Relations, Governor of Hong Kong, Chair of the BBC and most recently Chancellor of Oxford University. Taken together - including a stint as chair of the independent commission on policing in Northern Ireland...

Dr Ella Cockbain is not afraid to delve into topics that may make others uncomfortable, whether that's labour exploitation or child sexual abuse. As an associate professor in the Department of Security and Crime Science at UCL, she leads the research group on human trafficking and exploitation. In recognition of her impactful work, she received the prestigious Philip Leverhulme Prize last year along with 29 other exceptional researchers. Season 5 of the We Society Podcast from the Academy...

Professor Andy Pike has placed local authorities under his microscope for us, trying to figure out how to solve the crisis, as Sir Henry Daysh Chair of Regional Development Studies at Newcastle University. He’s even written a book about the very topic called "Financialisation and Local Statecraft". When it was revealed in 2022 that Thurrock council in Essex faced a half-a-billion-pound black hole in its finances, it was assumed it was something that other local authorities couldn’t...

Professor Rosie McEachan is leading one of the most exciting research projects in Britain - the Born In Bradford study. It's one of the largest research studies in the world, tracking the lives of over 30,000 Bradfordians to discover what factors most influence health and well-being.  In particular, they are focussing on how genetic, nutritional, environmental, behavioural and social factors impact health and development during childhood and, subsequently, adult life. Thanks to the study,...

Dr Ed Jones is working to turn around Britain's ailing high streets. He is a financial economist at Bangor University who doesn’t consider himself a conventional academic. The British High Street once was the heart of our cities, towns and villages, but no more. The High Street is increasingly lifeless  – the preserve of too many empty shops and countless charity shops that don’t have to pay burdensome business rates. A former centre of our communities is wilting before our eyes.  Season 5...

Professor Anna Lawson and Dr Shani Dhanda believe that the Social Sciences can improve the world for disabled people.  Dr Shani Danda may be our first guest on the We Society podcast who has also been featured in Vogue magazine for her work. An entrepreneur and disability activist, she is at the start of her social science career but has already achieved so much. Professor Anna Lawson is a Professor of Law at the University of Leeds. Throughout her academic career, she has worked with...

Professor Lord Richard Layard is one of the first economists to look at happiness as a metric that Governments worldwide should strive to improve in their population. He was the founder-director of LSE's Centre for Economic Performance and is now the director of the Centre's Wellbeing programme. In 2005, he wrote Happiness: Lessons from a New Science, which was published in 20 languages. We all quest for happiness, but how do we measure a happy life? Is it linked to wealth, relationships...

Join host Will Hutton for Season 5 of the We Society from March to hear more ideas that shape the world we live.  In this podcast series, you will hear interviews from social scientists, business leaders and public figures to hear their solutions to society's most pressing issues.    Tell us who we should be speaking to or what questions we should be asking by emailing [email protected]  This podcast is brought to you by the Academy of Social Sciences. 

For the final episode of Season 4, we have one of the chief architects of Britain's Levelling Up agenda: Andy Haldane. A fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences who brings you this podcast, Andy is in the middle of an illustrious career, from chief economist of the Bank of England to chief executive of the Royal Society of Arts. He has put Social Science in motion throughout his whole career. In this episode, Andy speaks to host Will Hutton about his involvement in the Government's...

Professor Lucie Cluver has spent her career improving the lot of children, especially during times of crisis. Whether that's the AIDS pandemic or the Covid pandemic, Professor Cluver has been at the coalface and in this episode she talks about her time working as a social worker in South Africa all the way through to her work as Professor of Child and Family Social Work at the University of Oxford From 2010 - 2012, she ran the Young Carers Study,  which looked at the impact of being a...

Minette Batters, President of the National Farmers’ Union of England and Wales, represents an estimated 55,000 farmers and farm workers.  She has changed the course of history as the first woman to become president of the NFU. Every single person in the UK owes a debt to our farmers - they ensure food is on our tables every single day, but there appears to be a dissonance in our minds of what’s on our supermarket shelves, and the producers behind our food.  Outside of the NFU,  Minette runs...

Sir Andrew Dilnot is an economist who believes that statistics hold a key role in lessening inequality and making Britain fairer.   He is now the warden of Nuffield College Oxford - a graduate college specialising in the social sciences. Before Nuffield, he was at the Institute for Fiscal Studies where he was the Director of the UK's leading independent economics research institute.  A fierce advocate for statistics, he believes that data is at the heart of solving a whole raft of issues...

Ann Pettifor is an economist who is perhaps most famous for predicting the Global Financial Crisis two years before it happened. But Ann is not just a savant, but a change maker. She was a core voice in the successful international campaign to cancel billions in debt accumulated by the Global South to mark the new millennium. And in 2008, she co-authored the report, A Green New Deal,  which laid out plans for better regulation of the financial system while pursuing green objectives. It's a...

Neil Adger, Professor of Human Geography at the University of Exeter, examines human movement as a strategy and adaptation to climate change. From the Somerset levels to Chittagong in Bangladesh, he's traversed the globe to discover why some communities are more climate resilient than others. But it’s not just physical changes that Neil has been studying.  While climate disasters such as flooding can cause financial turmoil for a family, they can also wreak long-term psychological harm....

Economist Daniel Susskind has been studying the nature of work and automation for years, long before ChatGPT entered the chat. But Daniel's work has never been more important with AI progressing at seemingly breakneck speed. As a research professor in Economics at King's College London and a Senior Research Associate at the Institute for Ethics in AI at Oxford University, he is one of the foremost experts on AI and work.  He joins host Will Hutton as they delve into how livelihoods are set...

Vivienne Stern is the chief executive of Universities UK, a membership organisation that represents 140 UK universities. In this role, she's had to weather a raft of challenges from Brexit to the Covid pandemic.  Host Will Hutton joins her in this conversation where they delve into just how important universities are for Britain, and how these treasured institutions can be protected for future generations.  This is the first episode of Season 4 of the We Society Podcast from the Academy of...

The We Society returns on Wednesday (4 October) for Season 4. Expect to hear more conversations on ideas that shape the world we live from the world of Social Science.  Our host, Will Hutton, is speaking to: Vivienne Stern from Universities UK, Daniel Susskind on the future of work in the age of AI, Neil Adger on the ongoing climate crisis, Ann Pettifor on global debt and many other fantastic guests. So join us from Wednesday and don't forget to subscribe so you're the first to know when a...

Our host, Will Hutton, chooses some 'must listen' moments from the past three seasons featuring Hillary Clinton, Ai Weiwei, Mariana Mazzuccato, Gary Younge, and Heaven Crawley. To listen to the full episodes, you can find them all on the We Society page on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be back in the Autumn with a roster of new guests who are changing the world for the better with the help of the Social Sciences. Hosted by journalist and Academy President Will...

Novelist Ian McEwan is one of Britain's finest fiction writers whose canon of work has won him the Booker Prize amongst countless other awards and accolades.  He joins host Will Hutton as they delve into a discussion on freedom, writing, and the importance of Social Science for human progress.  This is the final episode of season 3 of The We Society Podcast from the Academy of Social Sciences which tackles the big questions through a social science lens and brings you some of the best ideas...

Kenan Malik is an Observer columnist, a political thinker, and a seasoned broadcaster whose work mainly focuses on moral ethics and racism.  He joins host Will Hutton in a wide-ranging discussion on racism following the publication of his latest book, Not So Black and White: A History of Race. In this conversation, Kenan sets out his case that racism is a modern concept that emerged from a post-Englightenment world. He explains how, in his view, racism could end and how the answer isn’t...

Professor Nicholas Crafts is an economic historian whose work engages with contemporary Britain. He joins host Will Hutton in a wide-ranging conversation that starts with the long-term merits of Britain’s Industrial Revolution and ends with how Artificial Intelligence could usher in a new Industrial Revolution.  In this discussion, Professor Crafts sets out his view that Britain’s Industrial Revolution may have hindered us in the long run and explains what we can learn from the past...

Professor Louise Mansfield has dedicated her working career to improving the physical and mental health of the nation through her research on sport and exercise. She tells host Will Hutton how sport engagement is a microcosm of society by reflecting existing inequalities. They delve into issues around gender stereotypes, class, and access to facilities in this fascinating conversation along with an exploration of the London 2012 Olympic legacy.  They talk about how her recent research in...

Polly Neate is the CEO of Shelter, a charity which champions housing and tenant rights in Britain.  She joins Will Hutton in a conversation that touches on the critical need for more social housing, the spiralling number of rough sleepers, the need for a radical rethink in landownership practices, and how we perceive housing in the UK.  She brings us solutions that could see an end to 120,000 Children waking up homeless every day.  Before her role at Shelter, Polly Neate headed the women’s...

Professor Heaven Crawley has spent the past few decades leading the research on migration at some of the world’s top universities.  She joins host Will Hutton to dispel the myths about the 3.5% of the world’s population who are on the move. While migration might seem like a problem that only concerns the Global North, it certainly isn’t. Most people escaping famine, inequality or war settle in neighbouring countries.  And in this episode, Professor Crawley sets out her solutions to the...