The We Society

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 wesociety@acss.org.uk  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 Levelling Up agenda which seeks to send more investment to areas which were previously sidelined. Season 4 of the We Society Podcast from the Academy of Social Sciences tackles the big questions through a social science lens. Throughout this series, you'll be hearing some of the best ideas to shape the way we live. Hosted by journalist and Academy President Will Hutton, we interview some of Britain’s top social scientists and public figures from across the globe to explore their evidence-led solutions to society’s most pressing problems. Don't want to miss an episode? Follow the We Society on your favourite podcast platform and you can email us on wesociety@acss.org.uk and tell us who we should be speaking to or follow us on twitter  https://twitter.com/thewesocietypod Find out more about the Academy of Social Sciences here: https://www.acss.org.uk  

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 'young carer' on children's well-being in AIDS-affected families. Over 6000 children and 2500 caregivers were interviewed in the South African provinces making it the world’s largest study on children in AIDS-affected families. In March 2020, when 1.9 billion children were in lockdown with their parents, she co-led the COVID-19 Emergency Parenting Response to develop evidence-based open-source resources. She worked with colleagues at international organisations including the World Bank with the knowledge that the numbers of child abuse victims rose when they sequestered with adults for long periods of time. These resources were translated into over 100 languages and disseminated to over 200 million people. Season 4 of the We Society Podcast from the Academy of Social Sciences tackles the big questions through a social science lens. Throughout this series, you'll be hearing some of the best ideas to shape the way we live. Hosted by journalist and Academy President Will Hutton, we interview some of Britain’s top social scientists and public figures from across the globe to explore their evidence-led solutions to society’s most pressing problems. Don't want to miss an episode? Follow the We Society on your favourite podcast platform and you can email us on wesociety@acss.org.uk and tell us who we should be speaking to or follow us on twitter  https://twitter.com/thewesocietypod Find out more about the Academy of Social Sciences here: https://www.acss.org.uk  

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 a tenanted family farm in Wiltshire. Her focus has always been to leave her farm in a better state than when she inherited it, and that’s what she’s aiming to do at the NFU too.  But there have been a handful of pretty tough hurdles in her way - Brexit, Covid, the recent energy crisis, and not mention the need to balance sustainability with farmer’s profit margins. Season 4 of the We Society Podcast from the Academy of Social Sciences tackles the big questions through a social science lens. Throughout this series, you'll be hearing some of the best ideas to shape the way we live. Hosted by journalist and Academy President Will Hutton, we interview some of Britain’s top social scientists and public figures from across the globe to explore their evidence-led solutions to society’s most pressing problems. Don't want to miss an episode? Follow the We Society on your favourite podcast platform and you can email us on wesociety@acss.org.uk and tell us who we should be speaking to or follow us on twitter  https://twitter.com/thewesocietypod Find out more about the Academy of Social Sciences here:  https://Acss.org.uk  

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 whether that’s social care,  education inequalities or faltering healthcare systems.  And the UK's social care system is on a precipice. Two-thirds of people who have used or had contact with social care said they were dissatisfied with the service they had received or witnessed, according to a recent British Social Attitudes survey. And beyond just ‘dissatisfaction’ lies damning figures - there were over 165,000 adult social care posts left vacant last year. What can be done? And what can the stats tell us?  Season 4 of the We Society Podcast from the Academy of Social Sciences tackles the big questions through a social science lens. Throughout this series, you'll be hearing some of the best ideas to shape the way we live. Hosted by journalist and Academy President Will Hutton, we interview some of Britain’s top social scientists and public figures from across the globe to explore their evidence-led solutions to society’s most pressing problems. Don't want to miss an episode? Follow the We Society on your favourite podcast platform and you can email us on wesociety@acss.org.uk and tell us who we should be speaking to or follow us on twitter  https://twitter.com/thewesocietypod Find out more about the Academy of Social Sciences here: https://A

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 programme that's been backed by Al Gore, Nobel Laureates in Economics, and dozens of politicians around the world. Of course, there have been critics, Donald Trump being the most high-profile. She joins host Will Hutton as they delve into how her early years in apartheid South Africa shaped her thinking, and what changes she'd like to see happening right now amidst the worsening climate crisis. Season 4 of the We Society Podcast from the Academy of Social Sciences tackles the big questions through a social science lens. Throughout this series, you'll be hearing some of the best ideas to shape the way we live. Hosted by journalist and Academy President Will Hutton, we interview some of Britain’s top social scientists and public figures from across the globe to explore their evidence-led solutions to society’s most pressing problems. Don't want to miss an episode? Follow the We Society on your favourite podcast platform and you can email us on wesociety@acss.org.uk and tell us who we should be speaking to or follow us on twitter  https://twitter.com/thewesocietypod Find out more about the Academy of Social Sciences here: https://AcSS.org.uk

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. His team at Exeter University are studying the long term effects of flooding on mental health. Hosted by journalist and Academy President Will Hutton, we interview some of Britain’s top social scientists and public figures from across the globe to explore their evidence-led solutions to society’s most pressing problems.  Don't want to miss an episode? Follow the We Society on your favourite podcast platform and you can email us on wesociety@acss.org.uk and tell us who we should be speaking to or follow us on twitter  https://twitter.com/thewesocietypod Find out more about the Academy of Social Sciences here: https://AcSS.org.uk

Economist Daniel Susskind, an expert on AI and work, discusses the potential impact of automation and AI on jobs, including mass unemployment and power imbalances. They explore the impressive capabilities of GPT technology and the struggle to share its benefits. They also address the need for national conversation on state intervention in technology, shifting from consumers to citizens, and the impact of robots and AI on jobs.

Vivienne Stern, Chief executive of Universities UK, discusses the challenges and value of universities in Britain, including Brexit, falling student numbers, strikes, and the COVID pandemic. They explore the importance of social sciences, evidence-based policy decisions, and the role of universities as collaborative spaces for research and teaching. They also touch on the financial challenges faced by universities, the role of international students, and the debate around market pressures on universities.

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 new episode is released.