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.
Identifying and mitigating the impact of Covid-19 on inequalities experienced by people from BAME backgrounds working in health and social care
Prior to Covid-19, the NHS England Workforce Race Equalities Standard (WRES) found that BAME staff experience considerably greater levels of workplace harassment and discrimination, lower pay, less control and poorer working conditions than non-BAME ...
Primary Topic: Jobs, work, pay & benefits
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Stephani Hatch
Countries
Will Covid-19 change what the public expect of government?
Previous research on pandemics, infectious disease, and recession suggests that Covid-19 could have a significant impact on the public’s public policy preferences - and thus the environment in which policymakers will have to address the pandemic’...
Primary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Secondary Topic: Recession & recovery
Lead investigator: John Curtice
Countries
Resilience of the UK seafood system to the Covid-19 disruption (RiseUp)
The UK seafood industry is under unprecedented pressure to deliver on national food security during Covid-19/SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, while trying to adapt to remain socio-economically viable. However, no data exists on the systemic impacts to the UK sea...
Primary Topic: Business, big & small
Secondary Topic: Recession & recovery
Lead investigator: Sofia C. Franco
Countries
Identifying and mitigating the individual and dyadic impact of Covid-19 and life under physical distancing on people with dementia and carers (INCLUDE)
People with dementia say that personal contact is key to their well-being, while many family members providing unpaid care are isolated and feel lonely. People with dementia and the family members who care for them are especially vulnerable to the im...
Primary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Lead investigator: Linda Clare
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
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
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
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
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
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
Centre for longitudinal studies
A nationwide survey of the participants of five national longitudinal cohort studies, to examine the impact of the pandemic, help understand how people at different life stages are affected, and how prior life experiences shape resilience or vulnerab...
Primary Topic: Families & households
Secondary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Lead investigator: Alissa Goodman
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
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
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
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
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
The geography of post Covid-19 shutdown recovery risk in UK economic activity. implications for recovery inequality and targeted stimulus
The Covid-19 shutdown is not affecting all parts of the UK equally. Economic activity in local consumer service industries (LCSI), such as retail outlets, restaurants, hairdressers, or gardeners has all but stopped; other industries are less affected...
Primary Topic: Recession & recovery
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Jesse Matheson
Countries
Covid-19: Families, children aged 0-4 and pregnant women: vulnerabilities, resources and recovery in Tower Hamlets
Adverse impacts of the current Covid-19 pandemic will disproportionately fall on individuals and families at the lower end of the income distribution. The highly diverse population profile offers an opportunity to identify how families deploy their i...
Primary Topic: Families & households
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Claire Cameron
Countries
The impact of Covid-19 restrictions on recreation and use of green space in Wales
The use of green spaces for recreation has acknowledged benefits for physical and mental health, to the extent of reducing mortality rates [1]. Green spaces include parks and gardens in urban areas, and the wider countryside in more rural settings. T...
Primary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Secondary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Lead investigator: Julia Jones
Countries
Child protection and social distancing: improving the capacity of social workers to keep children safe during the Covid-19 pandemic
This research will explore the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on child protection, social workers and service users, with specific reference to the novel use of digital technologies in a period of institutionalised social distancing.
Primary Topic: Charities & volunteering
Secondary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Lead investigator: Harry Ferguson
Countries
