Book your place at the biggest celebration of social science

Achieving gender equality, supporting and celebrating refugees, and recognising how bilingualism can affect careers – these are just some of the issues being tackled by Essex researchers at this year’s Economic and Social Research Council’s (ESRC) Festival of Social Science.

Academics from our world-leading Faculty of Social Sciences will be joining forces with researchers up and down the UK to take part in the forthcoming Festival, which will see over 300 free events taking place.

 The Festival, now in its sixteenth year, will run from 3 – 10 November with events ranging from public debates to film screenings and exhibitions.

All are designed to reach out to audiences beyond academia to celebrate the impact social science research has on business, the public sector, society and the quality of people’s lives.

Essex researchers will be involved in events in London, Southend and Colchester. These will range from a sobering look at the impacts of detaining refugees to a more light-hearted take on why it’s good for us to share our data.

Our researchers will also highlight how ‘gender equality by design’ can be underpinned at work and at home and will lead an interactive workshop to explore what the languages we speak and the accents we use say about us.

This year’s Essex events are set to engage and challenge members of the public, policymakers, practitioners and children.    

 

 Speaking about the Festival, Professor John Preston, Deputy Dean (Research) for our Faculty of Social Sciences, said: “This Festival provides the perfect opportunity for us to showcase our global excellence in the Social Sciences and demonstrate our commitment to public engagement.

“At Essex, we are continually striving to make our cutting edge research accessible to as many people as possible.”

Professor Jennifer Rubin, ESRC Executive Chair, said: "The Festival of Social Science is one of the largest co-ordinated endeavours undertaken by a science community and demonstrates ESRC’s commitment to public engagement.

"We know social scientists and economists value the opportunity to talk with the public to make an impact with their work. These events should inspire young people to pursue a career in social sciences and raise awareness about the impact made to wider society."

 

Essex events

Approaches to reducing domestic abuse conference (In partnership with the University of Suffolk)
Saturday 3 November, IP-City Centre, Ipswich at 9.30am
 
We are what we speak 
Saturday 3 November, Firstsite, Colchester at 11.00am

Basic income: Turning the concept into practice 
Monday 5 November, Broadway House, London at 10.00am

Home, health and wellbeing: new research on the impact of insecurity in rented accommodation 
Tuesday 6 November, Broadway House, London at 10.00am

Gender Equality: The pay gap and beyond 
Wednesday 7 November, Greencoat Place, London at 12.00pm

Learning from psychotherapy case studies 
Wednesday 7 November, Online at 7.00pm  

Why data sharing is good 
Wednesday 7 November, The Minories, Colchester at 7.00pm

Banished behind bars: detention in the UK 
Thursday 8 November, Resource for London, London at 1.30pm  

Forgetting your native language: consequences to career prospects
Friday 9 November, Birkbeck, University of London at 9.00am

Telling the stories of refugee entrepreneurs 
Saturday 10 November, Southend Campus at 1.00pm 


Follow the Festival at #esrcfestival

A full list of UK-wide events for the Festival will be found on the ESRC’s website