Welcome to the Festival of Social Science

Festival of Social Science 2022

Free film festival brings social science research to life

A free film festival on Wednesday 2 November at Firstsite Gallery in Colchester.

The films form part of the annual ESRC Festival of Social Science, a national celebration of research and knowledge about humans and society which celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2022.

The festival events are an opportunity to explore topics relating to social science – from health and wellbeing to crime, equality, education, and identity.

This year, the film festival includes a range of films based around the theme of “my local area”.

Film highlights include an insight into how young people in the East of England experienced the COVID-19 pandemic, made by award-winning filmmaker Nic Blower; an in-depth look at how research has helping reshape Colchester town centre; and a look at how social science and local councils have come together to reduce the use of single-use plastic.

'The Feast' by Alicja Rogalska documents a metabolic feast, a dinner ritual commemorating the end of humanity’s reliance on fossil fuels. It takes place sometime in the future when humans harvest and distribute surplus energy generated by their metabolism and movements. Around the table the assembled dinner party guests consume fossil fuels and other substances once used in energy production, including coal, crude oil, diesel, lithium and uranium. While doing so, they discuss strategies employed by societies in the past to wean themselves from dirty energy and avert climate catastrophe. Alicja is our Artist-in-Residence and the 2022 winner of the Berlin Art Prize.

Highlights from the Festival of Social Science 2021

• Dr Danielle Tucker and Zara Babakordi from Organisation Studies and Human Resource Management at Essex Business School led a discussion about waste and recycling. The event addressed questions such as: How does recycling really work in our homes? What role does your household play in the journey of plastic? What are the wider debates about using plastic? Learn more about the discussion in the blog post, where does all the plastic go?

• Dr Katy Wheeler, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Norman Riley, Sociology PhD student, and Professor Sean Nixon, Professor of Sociology hosted the event: Conversations about climate change: reflecting on action at home, school and in local spaces. Learn more about the event by reading Norman Riley's blog on Conversations about climate change – reflections on a Festival of Social Science workshop and Sean Nixon's blog post on Bird Watching and Climate Change: the challenge of low carbon birding.

•  Professor Gina Yannitell Reinhardt from the Department of Government led a series of activities around the discussion point of are connected communities good for the environment?

• Dr Kate Seymour from Management and Marketing at Essex Business School led a discussion on the topic of Connecting Care and Climate - Feminist Approaches to a Green Recovery exploring the common causes and assumptions behind the crisis facing care and the climate and how feminism can help us set priorities to ensure a greener recovery.