Current Research
List viewEconomists from around the world are using real time data collection to better understand the impact the Covid-19 crisis is having on families, workers, firms and society, and how policies can help the recovery out of the crisis. Find out more about how these research teams are carrying out their projects, and what their findings are below.
Post Covid-19, what will be the ‘new normal’ energy demand in buildings?
Since September 2019, 1,700 bill payers have agreed to share for research purposes, their half hourly gas and electricity smart meter data with SERL. This data will be combined with a Covid-19 questionnaire about changes to occupant energy using beha...
Primary Topic: Energy & climate change
Lead investigator: Tadj Oreszczyn
Countries
Covid-19 and VCSE organisations response
According to a recent government report (DCMS 06/05/2020) the voluntary community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector is “fighting for survival”, with increased demand for its services, whilst simultaneously facing funding cuts estimated at £4.3...
Primary Topic: Charities & volunteering
Secondary Topic: Business, big & small
Lead investigator: Daniel King
Countries
Trust and trustworthiness in national and global governance
An online national survey in the UK, US and Italy which includes questions 9 on Covid-19 and political trust. Focus groups exploring political trust in towns and cities relating to Covid-19.
Primary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Lead investigator: Will Jennings
Nature engagement and wellbeing pre-, during and post Covid-19: supporting the UK (green) recovery
Engagement with nature benefits wellbeing (Twohigg-Bennet, 2019), but theory development in this area is limited. With free movement restricted during lockdown and health and wellbeing threatened by Covid-19, it is especially important now to underst...
Primary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Lead investigator: Biritta Gatersleben
Countries
Rescuing a `sick’ labour market: using online vacancy data to track Covid-19’s economic impact
This project aims to identify the impact of Covid-19 and consequent lockdown measures on labour demand, using unique real-time data on UK online job postings, combined with text analysis and causal econometric research designs. - Firstly, we will con...
Primary Topic: Jobs, work, pay & benefits
Lead investigator: Mirko Draca
Countries
Assessing policy to address the medium-run impact of Covid-19 on income and health inequality with models informed by the history of disease outbreaks
This research aims to inform policy by assessing interventions to mitigate the medium-run implications of Covid-19 on income and health inequality. The uniqueness of our work is that we will develop models to predict inequalities that are consistent ...
Primary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Secondary Topic: Lessons from history
Lead investigator: Konstantinos Angelopoulos
Countries
ESRC mental health research network
The Covid-19 Social Study is a panel study of the psychological and social experiences of adults in the UK during the outbreak of the novel coronavirus run by University College London. Over 75,000 people are currently participating in the study, com...
Primary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Lead investigator: Dr Daisy Fancourt
Countries
Measuring the impact of Brexit/Covid-19 on UK investment, sales and productivity
Researching impact of Covid-19 via ongoing decision maker panel on sales, employment, capital and requirements/availability of credit, working patterns, non-labour inputs, business expectations.
Primary Topic: Business, big & small
Secondary Topic: Jobs, work, pay & benefits
Lead investigator: Paul Mizen
Countries
Facilitating the public response to Covid-19 by harnessing group processes
There is international recognition that effective response to Covid-19 is dependent upon the public acting collectively and for the common good. This is important in terms of adherence to preventative measures, which, especially for low-risk groups, ...
Primary Topic: Charities & volunteering
Secondary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Lead investigator: John Drury
Countries
Identity, inequality, and the media in Brexit-Covid-19-Britain
Covid-19 and Brexit are extraordinary social and political processes that are occurring simultaneously. These events are exposing the major inequalities that underpin British society across class, ethnic, national, migrant, generational and geographi...
Primary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Katharine Tyler
Countries
DETERMIND-C19: impact of Covid-19 on people newly diagnosed with dementia and their family carers, a mixed method study nested in DETERMIND
People with dementia are at high risk of adverse outcomes from Covid-19 and may also be adversely affected by the steps taken by society to control the spread of the infection. They have difficulty remembering and understanding restrictions and preca...
Primary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Lead investigator: Sube Banerjee
Countries
Covid -19; cancer attitudes and behaviour study
Background: the impact of Covid-19 on UK public attitudes towards cancer is likely to be considerable, translating in to impact on the NHS from delayed referrals, missed screening and later-stage cancer diagnosis. Aim: to generate rapid evidence base...
Primary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Lead investigator: Kate Brain
Countries
The real-time economic effects of Covid-19 in the United Kingdom
This project will examine the microeconomic impacts of the Covid pandemic and lockdown on UK businesses and its interaction with the UK’s decision to leave the European Union. The project will deliver two key outputs, which are fundamental to desig...
Primary Topic: Business, big & small
Secondary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Lead investigator: Swati Dhingra
Countries
Responding to the Covid-19 domestic abuse crisis: developing a rapid police evidence base
The proposed project provides a near real-time evidence base to inform the police approach to the apparent surge in domestic violence and abuse (DA) triggered by the Covid-19 lockdown in the UK. Police case file data from seven diverse police forces ...
Primary Topic: Crime & policing
Secondary Topic: Families & households
Lead investigator: Katrin Hohl
Countries
Covid-19 and councils' finances: understanding risks and impacts & improving policy
Councils are on the front line of the coronavirus crisis, being responsible for key services like social care and homelessness prevention and facing revenues falling due to lockdown. Government has provided them with billions of additional funding, b...
Primary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Secondary Topic: Public spending, taxes & debt
Lead investigator: David Phillips
Countries
Waste management during the Covid-19 outbreak: investigating a critical sector in crisis
The Covid-19 outbreak is transforming everyday household waste into a biohazard. Coronaviruses are transmitted person-to-person, however Covid-19 also persists on surfaces for several days (van Doremalen et al. 2020). Consequently, this pandemic is s...
Primary Topic: Business, big & small
Secondary Topic: Jobs, work, pay & benefits
Lead investigator: Angeliki Balayannis
Countries
Covid-19: measuring the effects of Covid-19 on businesses and the UK economy
This application addresses two of the key objectives of this grant scheme by a) gathering critical data on the business response to Covid-19 quickly for immediate policy and future research use, b) providing new research with a clear impact pathway t...
Primary Topic: Business, big & small
Lead investigator: Paul Mizen
Countries
Entrepreneurial resiliency, innovation, and change during the Covid-19 crisis
The project will address this gap while producing immediately useful information for entrepreneurs and policymakers about how the impacts of the crisis change over time and how firms can build strategic resiliency in the face of an unprecedented cris...
Primary Topic: Science, technology & innovation
Secondary Topic: Business, big & small
Lead investigator: Benjamin Spigel
Countries
Transitions to more harmful forms of gambling during Covid-19 pandemic: behaviours and targeted marketing in young people and bettors on sport
Around 2 million people experience harms from gambling, and many gamble on live events (including sports) and online. The Covid-19 pandemic has precipitated unprecedented restrictions on people’s movements and interactions in public and private set...
Primary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Secondary Topic: Science, technology & innovation
Lead investigator: Kate Hunt
Countries
A longitudinal mixed-methods population study of the UK during the Covid-19 pandemic: psychological and social adjustment to global threat
The impact of the Covid19 pandemic on public mental health will affect need for services, further progress or resolution of the pandemic and speed of economic recovery afterwards. Policymakers have emphasised the need for a whole population approach ...
Primary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Secondary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Lead investigator: Richard Bentall
Countries
