Resonate Late: Our Society - Explore, Uncover, Discover

Have you ever wondered what ‘Social Science’ means for you?

For our first event of the ESRC Festival of Social Science, we took a peak into the worlds and research of five Warwick social scientists.

For this event, we headed to 1 Mill Street, an exciting co-working space in Leamington Spa.

The evening began with Dr Amrita Kulka’s ‘How to Increase Household Affordability?’, which had visitors voting on which areas in the Midlands house prices had increased the most in the past 10 years. (It was Rugby, with Coventry a close second!) Amrita went on to explore the pros and cons of building on green belt land, which gave way to great discussions between everyone in attendance.

Dr Michael Dieter taught us all about Super Apps. A quick audience poll found that hardly any of us knew what a Super App was! Michael explained what they are, why they’re an interesting phenomenon to study and then we delved into audience questions.

Our third talk of the evening was by undergraduate Dr Arya Wadivkar. Arya blended his academic skills as an Economics student with his personal interest in the Indian Diaspora in the West. He took us on a journey by noting where members of the Indian Diaspora are flourishing in the West and then considering why members of the community aren’t so prominent in other areas of society.

After a short break, filled with great discussions between researchers and attendees, Dr Georgiana Mihut shared her research into the correlation between SEN disabilities and mental health in children in Ireland. Georgiana guided us through the studies, outcomes, and surprising conclusions - challenging our views on how we think about wellbeing.

Finally, Dr Vicki Belt shared research from the Enterprise Research Centre’s longitudinal* study into workplace mental health in the Midlands. We understood how poor mental health in the workplace can impact business and which interventions appear to be having the most positive impact.

What a night! Thank you to our wonderful speakers, our inquisitive audience and 1 Mill Street for having us.

Our next Resonate Late in the ESRC Festival of Social Science is taking place online on Wednesday the 15th November. Click here to find out more and book your free place!

*We were told this just means the study has data taken over a long period of time.

This event is part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2023 and was made possible thanks to funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), which is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)