As the UK and many local regions embark on developing and implementing industrial strategies Dr Kate Scott from the School of Environment, Education and Development argues it is crucial to identify how their strengths can support innovation and development for low carbon transitions. This is particularly true in light of the government’s recent announcement that […]
Beyond technology: addressing the social and sustainability challenges of next generation industrial systems
This week’s annual gathering of the World Economic Forum in Davos will discuss prospects for ‘Globalisation 4.0’, with participants debating how to match a global economy increasingly driven by new technology and the movement of ideas, people, and goods, with citizens around the world looking to ‘take back control’. Professor Philip Shapira from the Manchester […]
A lonely new year: how can we prevent loneliness in older age?
The post-Christmas lull is deemed to be a particularly lonely time for many individuals. As ‘Blue Monday’ fast approaches, Natalie Cotterell, PhD student in Social Statistics, discusses the challenges to successfully tackling loneliness. Approximately 14% of the UK population has reported that they often feel lonely, and this number has been found to rise to […]
When is a plan not a plan? Reflections on the NHS Long Term Plan.
Professor Kath Checkland and Dr Jon Hammond of the University’s Health Organisation, Policy and Economics unit (HOPE) share their thoughts on the Government’s new ‘Long-Term Plan’ for the NHS. The new NHS Long Term Plan, and the investment associated with it, are welcome announcements but still fall short of most accepted definitions of ‘plan’ A full […]
Understanding antibiotic resistance: A national antibiotic prescribing dashboard for policymakers
Antibiotic resistance has been a major concern of policymakers for decades, with wide-ranging impacts upon the world’s food production, sanitation, hospital treatment, and population health systems. Here, Katie McCall of Greater Manchester Connected Health City (GM CHC) discusses how their newly launched antibiotic prescribing dashboard can help healthcare stakeholders and policymakers to understand the extent […]
The return of industrial democracy: preparing the ground for dealing with wayward capitalism?
Miguel Martínez Lucio, Professor in the Work and Equalities Institute and the Alliance Manchester Business School at The University of Manchester, and an expert of worker participation, trade union questions and the role of the state, discusses the renewed interest in industrial democracy and the need for a strategic plan. There is a growing interest […]
Gilets jaunes, Extinction Rebellion and neoliberal climate policy
#SDG Two protest movements erupted in the UK and France on November 17th, with apparently opposite logics. Here, Matthew Paterson, Professor of International Politics in the School of Social Sciences, argues that both movements are a result of the way carbon pricing is been both regressive socially and woefully inadequate in climate terms. This centre […]
Empire and the World War One Centenary: Remembrance as racialisation?
Dr Meghan Tinsley, a Presidential Fellow in Ethnicity and Inequalities, reflects on the four years of the First World War centenary, asking to what extent collective memory of the war remains white and Eurocentric. She argues that in pursuit of a more global narrative of past and present, history curricula should emphasise three themes: the […]
Promoting financial stability in a financially-integrated world economy: Is there scope for international policy coordination?
Greater international financial integration in recent decades has increased the scope for cross-border financial spillovers from one group of countries to another. Do these spillovers, and the resulting financial risks that they create for the world economy, provide greater scope for international policy coordination in the area of prudential policy? In an ongoing joint research […]
Messy but meaningful – how to make interdisciplinary water-energy-food-environment research more influential
UK academia is arguably at the forefront of the kind of inter-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary research needed to tackle global grand societal challenges. This distinctive mode of research aims to be policy-relevant and impactful, but by its nature is often messy, complex and difficult to communicate. Here, a group of academics from The University of Manchester […]