Read about our new ESRC-funded civil society centre
Our new ESRC-funded civil society centre will develop and extend the policy-relevant research from our previous civil society programme. Over the next five years, we’ll be undertaking an ambitious new programme of work to transform our understanding of how civil society is affected by forms of civil exclusion and expansion, civic loss and gain, and the potential for civil society organisations to play a key role in civil repair.
The programme includes a number of projects conducted under four key themes:
• Frontiers of Civic Exclusion and Expansion
• Polarization, Austerity and Civic Deficit
• Contentious Politics of Civic Gain
• Material Resources, Social Innovations and Civil Repair
A separate cross-cutting theme will address data infrastructure and data integration.
Through the production of new empirical evidence and analysis, the programme will impact on policy and societal practice. It will address many of the key challenges facing society, such as social and economic inequality, political polarisation and disengagement, migration and multiculturalism, the changing dynamics of work and the gig economy, and the impact of new technological innovations.
This is an interdisciplinary research programme that will build on WISERD expertise and innovation, involving co-investigators across UK universities and in Europe, with international collaborators in Australia, China, India and the USA. We’ll also be working in close partnership with our colleagues from the public, private, policy and third sectors.