Episodes

  • S9 Ep5: Evidence for change: rethinking child poverty policy with Alex Beer

    S9 Ep5: Evidence for change: rethinking child poverty policy with Alex Beer
    Oct 29 2025

    Our guest today, Alex Beer, joins us at a critical time as the UK Government prepares to publish its child poverty strategy this autumn.

    According to official numbers, there are 4.5 million children living in poverty in the UK and 1.1m children are in families that have used a food bank in the past year.

    The Nuffield Foundation launched a major new Strategic Review earlier this summer committing £30 million annually over the next five years to fund research and innovation that addresses some of the UK's most urgent social and economic challenges. Read more about it here (https://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/news/nuffield-foundation-announces-150-million-funding-commitment-to-tackle-uks-biggest-social-challenges)

    As Assistant Director of Strategy at the Nuffield Foundation, Alex's role is to develop and deliver programmes of work that deliver the strategy and improve social wellbeing in the UK. In this conversation with Will, Alex shares some evidence-backed policy suggestions for alleviating child poverty, which includes changes to the two-child limit and the benefit cap, but also emphasises the importance of taking a holistic approach.

    In the We Society, join acclaimed journalist and Academy President Will Hutton, as he invites guests from the world of social science to explore the stories behind the news and hear their solutions to society’s most pressing problems.

    Don’t want to miss an episode? Follow the show on your favourite podcast platform and you can email us on wesociety@acss.org.uk and tell us who we should be speaking to.

    The We Society podcast is brought to you by the Academy of Social Sciences in association with the Nuffield Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust.

    Producer: Emily Uchida Finch
    Assistant Producer: Emily Gilbert
    A Whistledown Production



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    28 mins
  • S9 Ep4: Inoculating the mind: protecting against misinformation with Sander van der Linden

    S9 Ep4: Inoculating the mind: protecting against misinformation with Sander van der Linden
    Oct 22 2025
    Professor Sander van der Linden explores the impact of misinformation and how to prevent its spread within the general public. His work as Professor of Social Psychology at the University of Cambridge and Director of the Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab focuses on the origins of "fake news" and its role in societal divisions.

    In this conversation with Will Hutton, he discusses his research into proactive strategies like "pre-bunking" to build defences against manipulation through misinformation. His lab has created a game called Get Bad News aimed at building psychological resistance against online misinformation. You can play his game and learn more about it here (https://www.sdmlab.psychol.cam.ac.uk/research/bad-news-game). The conversation also addresses the responsibilities of social media companies and the need for stronger regulation when it comes to countering online misinformation.

    In the We Society, join acclaimed journalist and Academy president Will Hutton, as he invites guests from the world of social science to explore the stories behind the news and hear their solutions to society’s most pressing problems.

    Don’t want to miss an episode? Follow the show on your favourite podcast platform and you can email us on wesociety@acss.org.uk and tell us who we should be speaking to.

    The We Society podcast is brought to you by the Academy of Social Sciences in association with the Nuffield Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust.

    Producer: Emily Uchida Finch
    Assistant Producer: Emily Gilbert
    A Whistledown Production



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    35 mins
  • S9 Ep3: Our Love Affair with Travel with journalist Simon Calder

    S9 Ep3: Our Love Affair with Travel with journalist Simon Calder
    Oct 15 2025
    Simon Calder is the man with the answers when it comes to any travel related questions. Having started as a travel journalist at the Independent newspaper in 1994, Simon has decades of knowledge and insight when it comes to the travel industry. He joins our host Will Hutton to impart some of his expertise and they tackle topics from the pros and cons of budget airlines to his love of train travel. There might even be a couple of holiday destination recommendations peppered in!

    In the We Society, join acclaimed journalist and Academy president Will Hutton, as he invites guests from the world of social science to explore the stories behind the news and hear their solutions to society’s most pressing problems.

    Don’t want to miss an episode? Follow the show on your favourite podcast platform and you can email us on wesociety@acss.org.uk and tell us who we should be speaking to.

    The We Society podcast is brought to you by the Academy of Social Sciences in association with the Nuffield Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust.

    Producer: Emily Uchida Finch
    Assistant Producer: Emily Gilbert
    A Whistledown Production


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    32 mins
  • S9 Ep2: Saving the 86 bus and designing better cities for the old and young with Tine Buffell and Julia King

    S9 Ep2: Saving the 86 bus and designing better cities for the old and young with Tine Buffell and Julia King
    Oct 8 2025
    How can cities be better designed for the older generation and girls? These are the tough questions tackled in this episode of The We Society with Professor Tine Buffel and Dr. Julia King, prominent academics in urban sociology and architecture.

    In the conversation, Professor Tine Buffel highlights the barriers older individuals face in urban spaces. Dr. Julia King addresses the decline of youth spaces and safety concerns for young women. Both guests stress the need for participatory design, which involves genuine community collaboration.

    Professor Tine Buffel is a Professor of Sociology and Social Gerontology at the University of Manchester, where she directs the Manchester Urban Ageing Research Group. In 2021, she was awarded a Leverhulme Trust Research Leadership Award. Her five-year project examines how urban environments can adapt to meet the needs of a growing and increasingly diverse ageing population, drawing upon an interdisciplinary and mixed-methods approach involving fieldwork in seven cities across the world.

    Dr. Julia King worked for a decade at LSE Cities, London School of Economics and Political Science, a centre that investigates the complexities of the contemporary city. In 2024 she started her own practice, Social Place, to focus on brief-development, community engagement and participatory design.

    In the We Society, join acclaimed journalist and Academy president Will Hutton, as he invites guests from the world of social science to explore the stories behind the news and hear their solutions to society’s most pressing problems.

    Don’t want to miss an episode? Follow the show on your favourite podcast platform and you can email us on wesociety@acss.org.uk and tell us who we should be speaking to.

    The We Society podcast is brought to you by the Academy of Social Sciences in association with the Nuffield Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust.

    Producer: Emily Uchida Finch
    Assistant Producer: Emily Gilbert
    A Whistledown Production

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    33 mins
  • S9 Ep1: Emergency planning is more about tea than being James Bond with Lucy Easthope

    S9 Ep1: Emergency planning is more about tea than being James Bond with Lucy Easthope
    Oct 1 2025
    Professor Lucy Easthope is a leading authority on recovering from disaster and she joins our host Will Hutton in the first episode of Season 9 of the We Society.

    They discusses the long-term implications of the COVID-19 pandemic and other disasters on societal resilience. Drawing from her experiences and insights in emergency planning, she highlights the importance of community responses and the emotional significance of preserving personal belongings after a disaster.

    To find out more about Lucy, and her two books - When the Dust Settles and Come What May - go to her website: https://whatevernext.info

    In Season 9, continue to join acclaimed journalist and Academy president Will Hutton, as he invites guests from the world of social science to explore the stories behind the news and hear their solutions to society’s most pressing problems.

    Don’t want to miss an episode? Follow the show on your favourite podcast platform and you can email us on wesociety@acss.org.uk and tell us who we should be speaking to.

    The We Society podcast is brought to you by the Academy of Social Sciences in association with the Nuffield Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust.

    Producer: Emily Uchida Finch
    Assistant Producer: Emily Gilbert
    A Whistledown Production



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    33 mins
  • S8 Ep9: The We Society Season 9 Trailer

    S8 Ep9: The We Society Season 9 Trailer
    Sep 23 2025
    Join host Will Hutton for Season 9 of the We Society from next week to hear some of the best ideas to shape the way we live.

    Launching October 1 with an interview with Lucy Easthope, an international adviser on disaster recovery.

    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.

    Please subscribe, rate and share with your friends.

    This podcast is brought to you by the Academy of Social Sciences in association with the Nuffield Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust.
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    2 mins
  • S8 Ep8: Solving the Productivity Puzzle with Ed Balls, Anna Stansbury and Dan Turner

    S8 Ep8: Solving the Productivity Puzzle with Ed Balls, Anna Stansbury and Dan Turner
    Jul 9 2025
    In the final episode of Season 8 of the We Society, our host Will Hutton is joined by economist and former Labour politician Ed Balls, Dr. Anna Stansbury, a researcher in labour and macroeconomics from MIT, and Dan Turner, Chief Research Officer for the Office of Gordon and Sarah Brown focused on national and regional inequalities.

    All three have recently collaborated on research to do with regional inequality in the UK and the lessons the UK can learn from Bidenomics.

    In this conversation, they discuss the worsening regional disparities in productivity, income, and overall economic performance within the UK, particularly highlighting the stark contrast between the economic conditions in London and the South East compared to cities like Nottingham, Manchester, and Birmingham.
    The traditional narrative of the North-South divide, which primarily focused on employment levels and unemployment rates, has evolved. Instead, the emphasis has now shifted towards productivity, revealing that while employment rates may be comparable across regions, the productivity of economic output varies greatly.

    To read more about Ed, Anna and Dan’s research papers, find them here:
    Tackling the UK’s regional economic inequality: Binding constraints and avenues for policy intervention https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/mrcbg/publications/awp/awp198
    What should the UK learn from ‘Bidenomics’?
    https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/mrcbg/publications/awp/awp252

    Join acclaimed journalist and Academy president Will Hutton, as he invites guests from the world of social science to explore the stories behind the news and hear their solutions to society’s most pressing problems.
    Don’t want to miss an episode? Follow the show on your favourite podcast platform and you can email us on wesociety@acss.org.uk and tell us who we should be speaking to.
    The We Society podcast is brought to you by the Academy of Social Sciences in association with the Nuffield Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust.

    Producer: Emily Uchida Finch
    Assistant Producer: Emily Gilbert
    A Whistledown Production


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    40 mins
  • S8 Ep7: The Social Life of Pain with Tom Shakespeare

    S8 Ep7: The Social Life of Pain with Tom Shakespeare
    Jul 2 2025
    In the UK alone, around one in four adults are experiencing chronic pain. And nearly a quarter of the population live with some form of disability. Yet despite these numbers, pain and disability are still too often talked about in hushed tones, misunderstood, or entirely overlooked in public life.

    How do we talk about pain that doesn’t go away? How do people live in bodies that society isn’t built for? And how can we shift the narrative from individual burden to collective responsibility?

    Professor Tom Shakespeare helps us answer these questions in this episode of the We Society. His work challenges the assumptions we make about ability, autonomy, and what it means to live a fulfilling life.

    As Professor of Disability Research in the medical faculty at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Tom is a leading sociologist, bioethicist and one of the UK’s most influential voices in disability studies.

    Join acclaimed journalist and Academy president Will Hutton, as he invites guests from the world of social science to explore the stories behind the news and hear their solutions to society’s most pressing problems.
    Don’t want to miss an episode? Follow the show on your favourite podcast platform and you can email us on wesociety@acss.org.uk and tell us who we should be speaking to.
    The We Society podcast is brought to you by the Academy of Social Sciences in association with the Nuffield Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust.

    Producer: Emily Uchida Finch
    Assistant Producer: Emily Gilbert
    A Whistledown Production





    Show More Show Less
    28 mins