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.
Monitoring socioeconomic and mental health trajectories through the Covid-19 pandemic
This study will use the nationally representative data collected monthly by the UKHLS COVID panel to assess the pandemic’s ongoing impact on individuals’ mental health and financial situation, and how this differs among subgroups of the UK popula...
Primary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Secondary Topic: Families & households
Lead investigator: Neil R Smith
Countries
Addressing inclusivity in the spatial and social impacts of Covid-19 on the self-employed in the UK
The self-employed are a particularly vulnerable group in this current crisis. In contrast to elsewhere, the UK has seen significant growth in self-employment, now reaching 15% of the workforce. They are predominant in those sectors most hit by shutdo...
Primary Topic: Jobs, work, pay & benefits
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Darja Reuschke
Countries
Pandemic policing: public attitudes towards compliance and organisational resilience
The UK’s Covid-19 response has provided the police with new powers which potentially impinge upon civil liberties, altering the nature of policing activities. National policing bodies have encouraged a compliance not coercion approach based upon th...
Primary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Secondary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Lead investigator: Sarah Charman
Countries
Psychosocial effects of the Covid-19 pandemic: identifying mental health problems and supporting wellbeing in vulnerable children and families
There is an urgent need to understand and mitigate the psychological and social impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and associated lockdown on primary school children. This is especially important for those known to be vulnerable. Children with emotiona...
Primary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Secondary Topic: Schools, universities & training
Lead investigator: Stephanie van Goozen
Countries
Carrying the work burden of the Covid-19 pandemic: working class women in the UK
Working class women are carrying the burden of the extra physical and emotional labour being generated by the Covid-19 pandemic. These women care for children, sick and frail elderly, clean buildings, cook and serve food, administer institutions and ...
Primary Topic: Families & households
Secondary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Lead investigator: Tracey Warren
Countries
Gemini Covid-19 study: immediate and longer-term impacts on the health, behaviour and wellbeing of U.K. families
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on U.K. families goes far beyond the devastating health implications of the virus itself. Added family stresses, including income loss, excessive confinement, social isolation and anxieties about health and educati...
Primary Topic: Families & households
Secondary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Lead investigator: Alison Fildes
Countries
Social learning about Covid-19 vulnerability and social distancing in high density populations: the case of UK urban dwelling Bangladeshis
Early epidemiology indicates older members of Britain’s Bangladeshi communities are disproportionately affected by Covid-19 related morbidity and mortality. Bangladeshis are more likely to have comorbidities and live in poorer, overcrowded areas in...
Primary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Chris Tang
Countries
How is the Covid-19 accidental experiment around working from home changing the way the UK will work after lockdown?
This research is designed to support economic recovery from the Covid-19 crisis, providing timely, actionable insight and recommendations about Working from Home (WfH), and the long-term implications of crisis-driven adaptations for organisational pr...
Primary Topic: Recession & recovery
Secondary Topic: Jobs, work, pay & benefits
Lead investigator: Jane Parry
Countries
Covid-19 (mis)information exposure and messaging effects in the United Kingdom
This project will examine four specific research questions about Covid-19 information and beliefs. 1. How (mis)informed is the public about the Covid-19 pandemic? 2. In this time of crisis, are people making sense of the world through widespread adop...
Primary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Lead investigator: Jason Reifler
Countries
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
Understanding and explaining management practices to promote higher productivity in UK businesses
Extending ONS-Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence (ESCoE), Management and Expectations Survey (MES) of ~25,000 businesses with 10+ employees drawn from and linked to the 2016 Annual Business Survey sample.
Primary Topic: Business, big & small
Secondary Topic: Jobs, work, pay & benefits
Lead investigator: Rebecca Riley
Countries
British election study
Wave 20 of the BES internet panel will ask questions on Covid-19 and its impact on political opinion including exposure (individual and family), evaluations/handling and impact on issue position and salience.
Primary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Lead investigator: Edward Fieldhouse
Countries
RELIEF centre
The Future Education team of the RELIEF Centre have started a collaboration with the Lebanese University (LU) to develop a massive online open course (MOOC) focused on remote learning, framed within the context of the Covid-19 pandemic but also appli...
Primary Topic: Schools, universities & training
Secondary Topic: Science, technology & innovation
Lead investigator: Diana Laurillard
consumer data research centre (CDRC)
Using footfall data supplied from Huq Industries to analyse changes in activity levels during the period of the lockdown.
Primary Topic: Recession & recovery
Lead investigator: Prof. James Cheshire
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
Life with corona
IDS, ISDC and UNU-WIDER collecting real time data on the coronavirus and its social and economic impacts, to build a global knowledge base about how people are dealing with the epidemic (including on focus on trust, which was key in the response to t...
Primary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Secondary Topic: Nations, regions & cities
Lead investigator: Professor Patricia Justino
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
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
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
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
