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PODCAST

The We Society

Beyond the politics, beyond our geography are the intangible connections that hold us together – The We Society. The We Society podcast is here to tell you about the thousands of ways the Social Sciences can help us understand and enhance this complicated and fascinating human network. What can we do to fix the NHS? How can we better manage climate change? How do we end the cost of living crisis? Brought to you by the Academy of Social Sciences in association with the Nuffield

science social sciences

All Episodes

32:17

S10 Ep7: Whoever holds our data holds the power with...

The We Society ·

2026/04/15

Professor Carissa Véliz is a philosopher who is examining the threats and possibilities of today’s digital world. She is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Institute for Ethics in AI at the University of Oxford – and fellow at Hertford College. She currently holds a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship and her work has been featured by the Ada Lovelace Institute. In her first landmark book, Privacy is Power (2020), she discussed the vital necessity of protecting our data as a precondition

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30:30

S10 Ep6: Climate action: small human acts can make a...

The We Society ·

2026/04/08

The consequences of climate change are everywhere. From record-breaking wildfires to catastrophic floods, climate disasters are killing hundreds of thousands and displacing millions. In the past decade alone, climate-related disasters have forced an estimated 250 million people from their homes.So why aren’t we moving faster? What’s holding back the systemic shifts needed to avoid disaster? Professor Tim Lenton is one of the world’s leading climate scientists tackling exactly that question, but

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31:14

S10 Ep5: AI and the Future of Public Services with...

The We Society ·

2026/04/01

Artificial Intelligence is now at our fingertips, in our homes, and governing what we see and how we see it. We are currently riding a great wave of change. But while private companies have embraced AI, how is the public sector keeping up? How can public institutions build and maintain trust amongst all this change? Our guest today is Imogen Parker, she is Associate Director in Social and Economic Policy at the Ada Lovelace Institute, at the Nuffield Foundation which is on a mission to improve

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33:49

S10 Ep4: How happy is the world in 2026? With...

The We Society ·

2026/03/25

Our guest, Professor Jan-Emmanuel De Neve shares with us the top findings from the recently released 2026 World Happiness Report. He is Professor of Economics and Behavioural Science at the University of Oxford and Director of the Wellbeing Research Centre. A leading voice in the science of happiness and wellbeing, Jan’s work brings data and empirical methods to questions once thought too subjective to measure. He has advised governments and international organisations on how to put wellbeing at

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31:02

S10 Ep3: Using virtual reality to build a more...

The We Society ·

2026/03/18

Professor Stephani Hatch has dedicated her career to making workplaces - especially the NHS - more inclusive by reducing discriminatory practices. She is the Vice Dean for Culture, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion, and Professor of Sociology and Epidemiology at King's College London. Her work has seen her introduce 360 degree Virtual Reality headsets to NHS managers and staff to allow them to ‘walk in the shoes of’ racially minoritised staff in occupational roles. This followed her research

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44:31

S10 Ep2: What does it mean to be grown up today? with...

The We Society ·

2026/03/11

In this episode of the We Society with Will Hutton, we are joined by two esteemed academics placing journeys to adulthood under a Social Science microscope. Carey Oppenheim is a project lead on the Nuffield Foundation's Grown Up? Journeys to adulthood programme. Using young people's voices and robust data, Carey and her team are exploring the challenges and opportunities young people face as they transition into adulthood. Bobby Duffy is Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Policy

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30:14

S10 Ep1: 'I’m not psychic, just very lucky!' With...

The We Society ·

2026/03/04

In the first episode of Season 10, we are joined by Professor Richard Wiseman who has spent his career studying the intangible ways humans communicate with one another - not just through language, but with humour, magic tricks and belief in one’s own luck. He is professor of the public understanding of psychology at the University of Hertfordshire and one of the world’s leading experts on why some people seem to attract opportunity while others seem to miss it.In recent years, his academic research

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3:15

The We Society Season 10 Trailer

The We Society ·

2026/02/27

Join host Will Hutton for Season 10 of the We Society from next week to hear some of the best ideas to shape the way we live.Launching Wednesday 4th March with an array of great guests starting with Richard Wiseman who is going to talk to us about the psychology of luck and magic. But we also wanted to celebrate this milestone - ten seasons! Through this journey, our host Will Hutton has met some incredible individuals whose work has changed the course of history. From the former Secretary of

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34:56

S9 Ep8: US and China: behind the rhetoric with Rana...

The We Society ·

2025/11/19

Joining Will Hutton for the final episode of Season 9 is Professor Rana Mitter, an authority on contemporary China and U.S relations. He is the ST Lee Chair in US-Asia Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School. In the conversation, Professor Mitter argues that we should look past the often prevailing sense of doom regarding U.S.-China relations to explore the realities - both nations have distinct aspirations that do not lead automatically to conflict. He argues that the tendency of apocalyptic

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32:01

S9 Ep7: Investing in the Early Years: Can policy...

The We Society ·

2025/11/12

Almost a third of five-year-olds in Britain enter primary school without the essential language, communication, and literacy skills they need to thrive. Eleanor Ireland, our guest today, looks at the critical importance of early childhood development and the widening disadvantage gap as inequality deepens in Britain.Eleanor is one of the Programme Heads for Education at the Nuffield Foundation, which tackles the UK’s biggest social challenges by funding research, generating evidence, and guiding

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33:54

S9 Ep6: Can language convict a criminal? with Tim Grant

The We Society ·

2025/11/05

Professor Tim Grant is one of the world's most experienced forensic linguistic practitioners who specialises in the analysis of abusive and threatening communications. He is an academic practitioner in the field of forensic linguistics - teaching and leading research as a professor at Aston University. As the former director of the Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics at Aston University he spearheaded the Institute’s expansion between 2013 and 2024. Tim joins Will Hutton and explains how

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27:34

S9 Ep5: Evidence for change: rethinking child poverty...

The We Society ·

2025/10/29

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

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34:48

S9 Ep4: Inoculating the mind: protecting against...

The We Society ·

2025/10/22

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

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32:12

S9 Ep3: Our Love Affair with Travel with journalist...

The We Society ·

2025/10/15

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,

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33:13

S9 Ep2: Saving the 86 bus and designing better cities...

The We Society ·

2025/10/08

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

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33:21

S9 Ep1: Emergency planning is more about tea than...

The We Society ·

2025/10/01

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

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1:33

S8 Ep9: The We Society Season 9 Trailer

The We Society ·

2025/09/23

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

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40:26

S8 Ep8: Solving the Productivity Puzzle with Ed...

The We Society ·

2025/07/09

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

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28:14

S8 Ep7: The Social Life of Pain with Tom Shakespeare

The We Society ·

2025/07/02

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

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28:39

S8 Ep6: Borders, Brexit, and Fault Lines with Katy...

The We Society ·

2025/06/25

Borders contain nations, act as fault lines, but are also meeting points, where different cultures, people, and ideologies come into contact.Nowhere has this been more visible, more painful, and more politically charged than the island of Ireland. In this episode, Will Hutton is joined by Professor Katy Hayward. She’s one of the UK’s leading voices on Brexit, the Irish border, and cross border tension and transformation. A political sociologist at Queen’s University Belfast and Co-Director of

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