Event guide
Our guide to the events being hosted by Cardiff.
This year's Festival of Social Science includes a mix of both virtual and in-person events and will showcase the different Social Science research that is taking place here at Cardiff University.
9 November: Supporting Parents in and Leaving Care: #MessagesToCorporateParents
11:00-12:00, Interactive Online event
Organiser: Dr Louise Roberts & Rachel Vaughan
Join us to discuss recent efforts to co-develop a best practice charter, aimed at creating meaningful change for parents in and leaving local authority care. The charter has been Co-produced with care experienced parents, practitioners and policy makers, the charter is aimed at Corporate Parents; professionals with responsibility for supporting young people in state care.
Building on our research, the aim of this event is to raise awareness and to improve support for parents in and leaving care.
9 November: Warm glow or activist? Activism in the charity sector and its impact on donations
13:00-14:00, Interactive Online event
Organiser: Dr Zoe Lee & Dr Amanda Spry
Be part of the conversation around the emergence of activism in the charity sector and how it impacts supporters and donations.
This is your chance to have your say on whether charity activism increases donations or instead alienates existing supporters and hear from industry experts about research in this area and their stories around opportunities and challenges in engaging in activism.
10 November: Reuse and Repair: Creating Value in a Circular Economy
17:00-18:30, Online event
Organiser: Dr Roberta DeAngelis and Dr Nicole Koenig-Lewis
The circular economy has the potential to radically transform the way in which products are designed, produced, consumed, and disposed, providing us with a potential way to tackle climate change and achieve net zero.
Join us for this interactive session where will showcase innovative reuse and repair initiatives and highlight opportunities and benefits for businesses and consumers alike wishing to take advantage of a circular economy transition in Wales.
11 November: Youth Unemployment and Civil Society under devolution: a sub-state Comparison
16:00 -17:30, Online event
Organiser: Dr Giada Lagana
Join us as we explore the role of civil society organisations in youth unemployment, in the context of devolution. We will be learning about the different theoretical and practical approaches across the devolved nations and hearing first hand from civil society organisations to learn what does and what doesn’t work in policy and practice.
16 November: Local community food systems: Making our food more sustainable and resilient together
16:00 -18:00, Online event
Organiser: Dr Bernd Bonfert
Take this opportunity to learn more about community food systems and why they have experienced a strong rise in demand over the past year.
Listen to the expert panel share their experiences and insights into the work, benefits and challenges of community-based food systems and then have your chance to ask questions and reflect on what opportunities community food systems may provide for you.
17 November: The Future of Work in Wales and Beyond
09:30 - 12:30pm Online event
Join us online for this morning event which examines “The Future of Work in Wales” through lively discussions on Universal Basic Income and Productivity – exceptionally important topics to everyone interested in our collective economic and social future.
We will also launch the recently signed partnership between Cardiff University and the NIESR so please join us to discover the latest research on these important issues and to find out more about how you can participate in this exciting collaboration.
18 November: Climate Change: connecting global political negotiations and community action
18:00-19:30 Online event
Organiser: Dr Katharine Steentjes
Join us as we learn and reflect on global and local efforts to tackle climate change.
In this event we will focus on climate change action and debate the challenges of bridging global, political negotiations, such as the COP26 conference with local, community climate action.
Have your say about how you are currently considered in global political negotiations and ask questions of researchers and practitioners working on climate change communication.
23 November: Community Legal Empowerment: my community, my voice, my power
11:00 -13:30, Online event
Organiser: Dr Alexis Pala
Take this opportunity to contribute to the development of an evidence gathering toolkit to support practitioners, lawyers, communities, and others to better understand culture, context and place.
We believe the law can be an effective tool for protecting, restoring, and enhancing the livelihoods of indigenous communities when rooted in the community’s needs, aspirations, and ambitions. Join us to test and expand the concept of legal empowerment and learn about the social, environmental, and legal challenges that come with development projects and how we can work together to ensure they have the maximum benefit.
24 November: Heating Homes: disrupting our homes
13:00 -17:00, In-Person event
Organiser: Dr Gareth Thomas
Come along to our in-person event at Butetown Community Centre in Cardiff to see our exhibition and take part in interactive discussions about the changes and disruptions households and communities might face on the road to zero carbon heating.
Our exhibition shows how the new technologies needed to make heating climate safe could mean changes to the fabric of our homes, communities, and how we pay for energy. Join in our conversation about what net zero might mean for us, not only as consumers but as families and citizens.
24 November: Extending the lives of our things: reuse and repair workshop
17:30 - 19:30, In-Person Event
Organiser: Dr Alida Payson
Join us for this exciting 1.5 hr hands-on workshop and discussion on reusing and repairing our things.
In this workshop we will learn more about research into the lifecycles of everyday household objects and either help you to mend a garment you have brought along or teach you how to make a wallet from an old tetrapak carton.
Throughout the session we will be asking you to reflect on a series of questions about the lives of our things, and discussing the broad challenges and opportunities we face under climate change in prolonging the life and use of our things.
CLOSED EVENT: Can you fix it? Repairing Items and the Environment
Organiser: Dr John McCrory
This is an exciting repair workshop for a group of secondary school students in the Cardiff area. Students will explore the environmental consequences of a throw away economy that creates waste and will work with experts to repair household items that they have brought in. The event combines a learning experience with hands on activities to explore what repair means as a practical response to climate change and as a concept key to changing societal behaviour.
Although this is a closed event and is not open for booking, following the event we will be providing a write up of the workshop, so watch this space.
CLOSED EVENT: Our Air, Our Pollution: A citizen science project tracking air pollution in South Wales
Organiser: Dr Jamie Lewis, Professor Robert Evans and Dr Nick Hacking
In this two-part citizen science event, attendees have the opportunity to learn more about the air quality in their communities. In the first session, attendees will be provided with an air monitoring kit and asked to monitor the air in their communities over the course of a week, in the second session everyone will come together to share and analyse their data to see what we can learn about the air quality in our communities and how the social sciences, climate sciences and local communities can work productively together to tackle the problem of air pollution.
Although this event is closed to the public, following the event we will be sharing what we have learnt for the sessions on this page.
There are lots more festival events happening across the UK.
