Podcasts

Housing policy

The housing crisis – a simple question of too much demand and not enough supply, or is there more to it? With Rory Coulter, Associate Professor in Human Geography at University College London, and Kevin Garvey, Head of Member Relations at the National Housing Federation.

Arts and wellbeing

What is the relationship between the arts and our mental health? Are they good for our mental health, or are happier people more likely to engage in the arts? The guests for this episode are Hei Wan (Karen) Mak, a senior research fellow in epidemiology and statistics at UCL and Nicky Goulder, CEO of Create, which puts on creative workshops in schools, day centres, prisons, and hospitals.

Gender, housework and childcare

Do education levels affect gender roles in UK households? Do men with degrees do more childcare and housework? With guests: Barbara Okun, Professor of Demography in the Sociology Department and Demography Division at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Dr Sara Reis, Deputy Director and Head of Research and Policy at feminist economics think tank the Women’s Budget Group.

Job mobility and the gender pay gap

In this episode, we discuss the effects of parenthood on job mobility and what this means for the gender pay gap with ISER’s Dr Silvia Avram, Senior Research Fellow, and Alesha De Freitas, Head of Policy, Research and Advocacy (at time of recording) at the Fawcett Society.

Being part of Understanding Society, the UK Household Longitudinal Study

In this episode, one of our participants, Neil, talks about what it’s been like to be part of Understanding Society right from the beginning. What does it mean for him, and what changes has he seen in life and society since joining ISER’s predecessor study, the British Household Panel Survey, in 1991?

Survey response rates during the Covid pandemic

ISER’s Dr Pablo Cabrera Alvarez talks about survey response rates and what happened to Understanding Society during the Covid pandemic, when interviewers couldn’t get to see participants face to face.

Housing and ageing

ISER Research Associate Dr Amy Clair discusses her epigenetic research into the impact of living in poor quality rented housing, with Professor Meena Kumari and Professor Emma Baker. They find that private renting can age you faster than being unemployed or smoking.

Using mobile devices to understand spending

The development of mobile technology has brought with it some exciting opportunities for those interested in collecting data from households about their finances. Funded by the NCRM, Dr Jäckle has been working to gain a better understanding of household finances through better measurement. See https://www.ncrm.ac.uk/resources/podcast/?id_specific=46title=Using%20mobile%20devices%20to%20understand%20spending

Long term sickness: the costs to individuals

John Letizia, Director of Public Affairs for the Income Protection Insurance company UNUM discusses research commissioned from ISER to look at the cost to individuals of long term sickness.

Poverty triggers and household change

Professor Nick Buck, Director of Understanding Society, discusses two pieces of research using the study to look at movements in and out of poverty and household change.

Childcare policy – has it had any impact?

Dr Birgitta Rabe talks about new research looking at the impact of recent childcare policies on children’s educational outcomes and helping mothers into work.

How couples respond when one loses a job

Dr Karon Gush talks about research using the Understanding Society Innovation Panel to look at the responses of couples when one of them loses their job.

The long shadow of recession

Dr Mark Bryan discusses research findings from ISER’s ESRC funded project, Understanding the impact of recession on labour market behaviour in Britain, which investigates the labour market responses of individuals and households to economic recession.

School meets street: low achievement, school exclusion and youth crime

What can schools do to stop young people becoming excluded and falling into a life of crime? ISER Associate Liz Spencer talks about recent research examining the process that links low achievement, school exclusion and involvement in crime among African-Caribbean boys and young men.

Who saves for retirement?

James Lloyd, Director of the Strategic Society Centre, talks about new research with ISER looking at pension reform and who is and isn’t saving for their retirement.