SSP Spotlight Series: digitally accessible content
Measuring success: Shaping smarter policies
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Video transcription:
I'm Dr Ana Manzano, Associate Professor in Public Policy, working in the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Leeds.
In my fellowship funded by UK Research and Innovation, I'm working with the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland, helping them to measure the impact of the wide range of policies in economic and green growth, employment skills, further and higher education, trade, and many more.
By building on the great work that the Department is already doing, we're helping them to make sure that the impact of the policies is evidence-based and future decisions can be made. The project focuses on creating practical and consistent ways of evaluating government policy.
By working closely with policy makers, creating tools and strategies that are grounded in the real needs of economic policy and specific challenges, we are making sure that they are more efficient. We are co-developing a monitoring and evaluation strategy and advising teams on the best methods to use to evaluate the programmes and the policy and overall enhancing the departmental staff evaluation skills.
One of the most exciting aspects of this project is its collaborative nature. By working hand in hand with government officials, we're making sure that we are designing together something that is not only useful, but is made to their specific and unique needs as a devolved administration and also as a wide ranged Department for the Economy.
Ultimately, this fellowship is about helping the Department for the Economy to measure success in a way that creates stronger outcomes, more inclusive and sustainable policies, so we can improve the lives of people as promised.
Closing the gap: Fairer working lives for young women
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Video transcription:
I'm Kim Allen and I'm a Professor in Youth and Culture in the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Leeds.
Despite the fact that young women are achieving in education, some cases outperforming men and entering the workforce in ever higher numbers, gender inequalities persist. This includes occupational segregation and a gender pay gap. Young women are also more likely to be in insecure and low paid employment.
In the past, explanations of these inequalities have tended to focus on the motherhood penalty, so the impact of having children on women's career progression. Other explanations have focused on young girls' aspirations and the educational choices that they make that lead them into particular sectors. What's been given less attention is young women's very earliest experiences of work, including those experiences of work that they accrue before they formally transition from education.
Many young people undertake paid work whilst they're still in school, college or university, for example, as babysitters, as retail assistants or as waitresses in bars and cafes. And the current cost of living crisis is making working while studying ever more commonplace and necessary. However, we still know very little about the nature of this work or how it might impact on young people's aspirations and their future outcomes.
Our current research project is trying to address this gap. So funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and conducted along with other researchers at the University of Leeds, University of Manchester and City St. George's University of London, we're using a range of methods to explore the nature and impact of young women's earliest experiences of work.
This includes analysing large national data sets like the Labour Force Survey. We're also doing interviews with young women who have left education and work in feminised sectors such as teaching, care, fashion and beauty about their experiences of work and their hopes for the future.
We're also collaborating with a range of stakeholders, including the charity the Young Women's Trust, and we have a young women's advisory group to make sure that their voices are central to the research and that the research really makes a difference to young women's lives.
We're already having an impact on government policy. For example, we recently submitted evidence to the Low Pay Commission to advocate for higher wages for young workers, and we're developing toolkits and resources for employers and for young women to help tackle workplace discrimination and help young women to assert their rights in the workplace.
This project aims to create long lasting change by tackling workplace inequalities and empowering the next generation to achieve fairer and more fulfilling working lives.
Feeding the nation: seasonal migrant workers and food security
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Video transcription:
[ROXANA] Hi, I'm Dr Roxana Barbulescu. I'm an Associate Professor in the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Leeds.
Who are the people behind our food? In the UK, 90% of the workers who harvest fresh fruit and veg are seasonal migrant workers. Feeding the Nation is a research project in collaboration with Professor Carlos Vargas-Silva at the University of Oxford, and funded by the ESRC.
It examines the vital role of seasonal workers and farming in supporting our food system. It focuses on the lived experiences of migrant and farmers, specifically fair recruitment, retention and fostering a sense of belonging under temporary visa schemes whilst at the same time studying innovative solutions to protect the thriving UK farming sector.
Labour shortages are a big issue in food and farming affecting migrants, farming communities and rural economies more broadly. This research highlights these challenges while looking for ways to recruit fairly, protect them from exploitation and improve worker welfare. This aims to protect locally grown fruit and veg and make farming more sustainable in the long run.
[BETHANY] Hi, my name is Dr Bethany Robertson, and I'm a Lecturer in the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Leeds.
This project gathered new data by conducting interviews, surveys and even photo diaries with participants. Firstly, we understood the experiences of seasonal migrant farm workers, such as by understanding their reasons for working in the UK, their working conditions and even their future plans about whether they wish to return in the next year. Secondly, farmers shared their challenges with us, for example, how they find and retain seasonal farm workers, and also how they're adapting to changing times.
This project was innovative in not only tackling the challenges faced by seasonal migrant farm workers, but also farmers and how these challenges are also prompted by changes in the weather, seasons, and rural communities.
[ROXANA] To create real change, we partnered with governmental organisations such as Defra and the Food Standards Agency. We've also teamed up with the charity, New Europeans UK to create a multilingual toolkit that will empower migrants about their rights in the UK. Then, to reach a wider audience we've collaborated with artists and musicians. Ink and watercolour illustrations were exhibited at the Museum of English Rural Life, and a co-produced folk song premiered at the Sidmouth Folk Festival and was broadcast on BBC.
This groundbreaking project gives seasonal migrant workers a voice, it highlights their contribution to feeding the nation and offer solutions for a fairer food system.