In this episode of Policy Matters, hosts Matt Dickson and Franz Buscha talk to Neil Davies, Senior Research Fellow at the MRC Integrated Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol. Neil is a statistical epidemiologist so Franz and Matt begin by finding out what life has been like for an epidemiologist since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Neil then explains his recent work showing how some of the myriad statistics we’re seeing relating to coronavirus suffer from their survey design and this can gener...
Jun 09, 2021•44 min
In this episode of Policy Matters, hosts Franz Buscha and Matt Dickson talk to Simon Burgess, Professor of Economics at the University of Bristol. With COVID-19 and all the policy responses to it still very much at the forefront of public policy, Franz and Matt begin by asking Simon about the likely impact of school closures on child attainment, how this may affect existing socio-economic inequalities and what policymakers could do to tackle the issue once schools settle back to ‘normal’. The ad...
Jun 09, 2021•49 min
This episode of Policy Matters was recorded by hosts Matt Dickson and Franz Buscha from their respective homes as we all adjust to life and work during lockdown. With the global COVID-19 pandemic dominating almost all policy areas at the moment, Franz and Matt spend time discussing how different countries have tackled the outbreak and what lessons can be drawn from the more successful approaches. The discussion then moves on to the economic impacts we’ve seen already, the rationale behind the Go...
Jun 09, 2021•49 min
In this episode of Policy Matters, hosts Matt Dickson and Franz Buscha talk to Arnaud Chevalier, Professor of Economics at Royal Holloway, University of London. Franz and Matt start by asking Arnaud about several of his projects examining how parents influence their children’s educational attainment, and in particular why the fall of the Berlin wall led to a dip in school results. The discussion then moves on to higher education, Arnaud explaining how the ethnic and linguistic mix in a classroom...
Jun 09, 2021•53 min
In this episode of Policy Matters, hosts Matt Dickson and Franz Buscha talk to John Jerrim, Professor of Education and Social Statistics at the Institute of Education, University College London. Matt and Franz begin by asking John about his recent research into ‘overclaiming’ – otherwise known as ‘bullshitting’ (!) – amongst students, and how the findings give potential insights into some of the patterns of labour market outcomes we observe in the UK. John then discusses some of his cross-countr...
Jun 09, 2021•34 min
In this episode of Policy Matters, hosts Franz Buscha and Matt Dickson talk to… Matt Dickson and Franz Buscha! It’s been a while since we talked about the policy-relevant research that we are currently pursuing both together and individually, so in this episode we take some time to find out what is floating our research boats at the moment. Matt talks about a couple of research projects looking at the impact of education on labour market and health outcomes – using different ‘natural experiments...
Jun 09, 2021•33 min
In this episode of Policy Matters, hosts Franz Buscha and Matt Dickson talk to Gemma Tetlow, Chief Economist at the Institute for Government. Gemma was previously the economics correspondent at the Financial Times and also worked for many years as an academic economist and so has broad experience of economists’ work from a variety of angles. Firstly, Gemma discusses the work of the Institute, and how the demands that Brexit has placed on the government has hindered domestic policymaking. Given h...
Jun 09, 2021•30 min
In this episode of Policy Matters, hosts Matt Dickson and Franz Buscha talk to Sam Friedman, Associate Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and a member of the Social Mobility Commission. Sam explains his recent research highlighting how those from working class backgrounds find themselves earning less than colleagues from more privileged families even when they have the same qualifications and work in the same elite professions. Going beyond the numbers to understand this ‘c...
Jun 09, 2021•38 min
In this episode of Policy Matters, hosts Franz Buscha and Matt Dickson discuss how science funding in the UK is disbursed to Universities. They examine what the Research Excellence Framework (REF) is and how it affects the work behaviours and career prospects of modern academics. Franz and Matt discuss the impact of metrics for evaluation purposes and consider how they are personally affected by the various University evaluation schemes such as REF, TEF and KEF. They also discuss the concept of ...
Jun 09, 2021•34 min
In this episode of Policy Matters, hosts Franz Buscha and Matt Dickson discuss the recently published ‘Augar Review’ of Post-18 education and funding, explaining what it is, how it came about and what the main recommendations are. Franz and Matt consider the impact changes to the HE funding system might have on students, in particular whether this would be a good or bad thing for social mobility, and whether or not politics may intervene to prevent these recommendations being implemented in any ...
Jun 09, 2021•33 min
In this episode of Policy Matters, hosts Franz Buscha and Matt Dickson talk to Sarah Brown, Professor of Economics at the University of Sheffield and an independent commissioner for the Low Pay Commission. Franz and Matt highlight the 20th anniversary of the introduction of the national minimum wage and discuss with Sarah how the policy has worked out for the UK. The role and importance of the Low Pay Commission in informing minimum wage policy is explored and questions are asked as to what the ...
Jun 09, 2021•34 min
In this episode of Policy Matters, hosts Franz Buscha and Matt Dickson talk to Rachel Aldred, Reader in Transport at the University of Westminster. Franz and Matt discuss with Rachel the benefits and risks of cycling in the UK and touch on subjects such as cultural differences in cycling behaviour across countries, what we might learn from such comparisons and how risky walking and cycling are in the UK. Rachel outlines early results from an evaluation of the ‘Mini-Hollands’ scheme that seeks to...
Jun 09, 2021•32 min
In this episode of Policy Matters, hosts Matt Dickson and Franz Buscha talk to Carol Propper, Professor of Economics at Imperial College London and a former Senior Economic Advisor to the NHS Executive on Regulation of the NHS Internal Market. We might not immediately think of economists when we think about healthcare, but Carol explains how economists can help with the design of a healthcare system that will produce the health outcomes that we would all want, taking into account the incentives ...
Jun 09, 2021•34 min
In this episode of Policy Matters, hosts Matt Dickson and Franz Buscha talk to Sarah Smith, Professor of Economics at the University of Bristol and head of the Royal Economics Society’s Women’s Committee. Sarah explains what this committee is and how they are tackling the issue of the lack of women in the economics profession. Historically economics as a discipline has been dominated by men and despite increases in the proportion of female lecturers and professors in recent years, women remain u...
Jun 09, 2021•35 min
In this episode of Policy Matters, hosts Franz Buscha and Matt Dickson talk to Alex Bryson, Professor of Quantitative Social Science at University College London. Alex is one of the UK’s leading figures in sports economics and he firstly explains what sports economics is and how it can be used to draw policy inferences in other more familiar areas of economics. Franz, Matt and Alex then discuss the findings of Alex’s paper looking at whether people discriminate against black players when picking...
Jun 09, 2021•31 min
In this episode of Policy Matters, hosts Franz Buscha and Matt Dickson are joined by Dr George MacKerron, senior lecturer in economics at the University of Sussex. George is an expert in the economics of happiness and wellbeing and the man behind the ‘mappiness’ project. George explains the importance of looking beyond financial measures of individual and national wellbeing and discusses the extent to which the cliché that ‘money can’t buy happiness’ holds true. Franz, Matt and George then discu...
Jun 09, 2021•27 min
In this episode of Policy Matters, hosts Franz Buscha and Matt Dickson are joined by Steve Machin, Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics, and a leading expert in the economics of crime. We might not initially think that economists have much to say on crime and policing, but Steve explains how the choice to commit crime can be thought of like any other choice that involves weighing up the costs and benefits. As such, when the prices of goods on the black market change or the ch...
Jun 09, 2021•28 min
In this episode of Policy Matters, hosts Matt Dickson and Franz Buscha spend some time reflecting back on their previous guests and discuss some of the key messages that each episode brought up. Why is social mobility important? Are grammar schools good for social mobility? Are there upsides to vocational education and why should HE students take care when selecting degrees? Both Matt and Franz highlight particular lessons learned and how they relate to current policy. Franz and Matt then look f...
Jun 09, 2021•34 min
In this episode of Policy Matters, hosts Franz Buscha and Matt Dickson talk to Sandra McNally, Professor of Economics at the University of Surrey and Director of the Centre for Vocational Education Research. When it comes to education, much of the public debate and media attention focuses on the traditional academic route of A-levels and University. But what about the 50% of young people who don’t ever go to University – what are the options for them and are they as consistently neglected by pol...
Jun 09, 2021•28 min
In this episode of Policy Matters, host Matt Dickson talks to Laura van der Erve from the Institute for Fiscal Studies about the merits of doing a university degree and what recent evidence suggests are the relative labour market returns to degrees in different subjects at different institutions. With almost 50% of young people in England going on to Higher Education, and with tuition fees of £9,250 for most courses, it has never been more important to understand the impact on earnings of studyi...
Jun 09, 2021•24 min
In this episode of Policy Matters, hosts Franz Buscha and Matt Dickson are joined by Professor Paul Gregg from the University of Bath to consider the prospects for today’s young people leaving education and entering the labour market. We hear a lot in the news about the job market challenges facing young people and yet employment rates are at record levels, recent generations are the most educated ever with more and more people going to University and then enjoying a graduate wage premium – so w...
Jun 09, 2021•27 min
In this episode of Policy Matters, hosts Franz Buscha and Matt Dickson are joined by Dr Lindsey Macmillan from University College London to discuss the role that education plays in social mobility. Issues relating to education are never far from the policy agenda or the headlines – whether it is early years education, university tuition fees or the possible return of grammar schools. But what does academic research tell us about the role of education at each age and stage in improving life-chanc...
Jun 09, 2021•25 min
In the first of this new series, ‘Policy Matters’, Franz Buscha and Matt Dickson discuss social mobility – what does it mean, how do we measure it, what is it like in the UK and why is it an important issue? From Tony Blair to Theresa May, incoming prime ministers have talked boldly about the socially mobile Britain that their government will create, and social mobility has become a much-discussed topic in academia and public policy debates. But what would it mean to have a more socially mobile ...
Jun 09, 2021•27 min
Electronic and Electrical Engineering PhD student, Leen Jabban, is researching sensory feedback for hand and arm prosthetics using non-invasive techniques.
May 17, 2021•2 min
Listen to the full discussion from 24 Feb 2021 between our six graduates from our MSc Engineering Business Management and MSc Innovation & Technology Management courses. They talk about their current jobs, the interview process, visas implications and their impact on employability.
Apr 07, 2021•1 hr 25 min
In this online lecture, author, broadcaster and Founder Director of Forum for the Future, Jonathon Porritt, discusses decarbonisation and recarbonisation, and how securing a stable climate for the future of humankind depends as much on recarbonising natural systems, as it does on decarbonising our industrial economy. This lecture took place on 24 February 2021.
Feb 26, 2021•1 hr 10 min
“Human-robot collaboration is one of the key technologies being developed in pursuit of industry 4.0, the 4th industrial revolution.” James Male, a PhD student in our Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, discusses his research which looks at developing methods for humans and robots to work together in an industrial manufacturing setting.
Jan 28, 2021•2 min
In this talk, Professor Mott from the Faculty of Engineering and Design, debates the impact that COVID is having on engineering and technology businesses and how they need to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances.
Jan 19, 2021•4 min
Three students; Rachelle, Georgia and Millie talk about the assessment period and share tips and experiences they use to look after their wellbeing during this time of year. Views in this podcast are those of the students and do not necessarily represent or are endorsed by the University.
Jan 15, 2021•20 min
In this online lecture, former Cabinet Secretary and National Security Advisor, Lord Mark Sedwill, discusses global governance in the Covid era. He sets out the global challenges and opportunities we face in 2021 following the Covid-19 crisis in 2020; as the Biden Administration takes office, and the UK takes on the G7 presidency and hosts the COP26 climate change summit. This lecture took place on 14 January 2021.
Jan 15, 2021•1 hr 4 min
