
Doing things differently
Humanities researchers at The University of Manchester are working to understand the wide-ranging impacts of coronavirus (COVID-19) on our lives.
Watch our 'Doing things differently' series of videos to learn from our experts about how COVID-19 is changing the way that we think about society, politics, the environment and everyday life.
Science Advice
Discover how scientific advice is structured in the UK and the particular challenges of responding to a pandemic.
Our Researchers
Find out more about the Humanities researchers featured in our 'Doing things differently' series of videos:
Find out more about our researchers
Video: Science Advice
Kieron Flanagan
Kieron is Senior Lecturer in Science and Technology Policy at the Alliance Manchester Business School and a member of the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research (formerly PREST).
Elisa Pieri
Dr Elisa Pieri is a social scientist with a background of interdisciplinary research. Her current research explores pandemic preparedness and its social implications.
Andy Westwood
Andy Westwood is Vice Dean for Social Responsibility in the Faculty of Humanities and Professor of Government Practice. He is a member of HEFCE's Strategic Advisory Board for Quality, Accountability and Regulation, and a Trustee of the National Union of Students.
Video: Misinformation and Conspiracy Theories
Vera Tolz and Stephen Hutchings
Vera Tolz and Stephen Hutchings are both Professors of Russian and have been working on a research project about Russia in the global mediasphere and the move from a cold war to an information war.
- Learn more about the Reframing Russia project
- Follow the Reframing Russia project on Twitter @reframingrussia
- Read Prof Vera Tolz' research profile
- Read Prof Stephen Hutchings' research profile
David Schoch
Dr David Schoch is a Presidential Fellow in Sociology and has been working on a project involving disinformation campaigns on social media platforms, and the practice known as political astroturfing.
- Follow Dr David Schoch on Twitter @schochastics
- Read Dr David Schoch's research profile.
Peter Knight
Peter Knight is a Professor of American Studies and has written numerous papers on conspiracy theories and has contributed to The Conversation website’s recent podcast series on this topic.
- Follow Prof Peter Knight on Twitter @peter_g_knight
- Listen to the 'Why are there so many coronavirus conspiracy theories? Listen to part six of our expert guide' podcast on The Conversation
- Discover research on 'Comparative analysis of conspiracy theories in Europe'
- Read Prof Peter Knight's research profile.
Video: Ethnic Inequalities
Bridget Byrne
Bridget is a Professor of Sociology and Director of CoDE (Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity). She is a co-author of Ethnicity, Race and Inequality in the UK: State of the Nation, published in April 2020 and available as an Open Access download. The book explores what progress has been made, identifies those areas where inequalities remain stubbornly resistant to change, and asks how our thinking around race and ethnicity has changed in an era of Islamophobia, Brexit and an increasingly diverse population.
- Follow Bridget on Twitter @BridgeByrne3
- Find out more about The Centre of Dynamics of Ethnicity
- Find out more about Bridget’s research on Research Explorer.
James Nazroo
James is Professor of Sociology at The University of Manchester, researching inequalities in relation to later life, ethnicity and race, and health. He is a co-author of Ethnicity, Race and Inequality in the UK: State of the Nation, published in April 2020 and available as an Open Access download. The book explores what progress has been made, identifies those areas where inequalities remain stubbornly resistant to change, and asks how our thinking around race and ethnicity has changed in an era of Islamophobia, Brexit and an increasingly diverse population.
- Follow him on Twitter @JamesNazroo
- Find out more about The Centre of Dynamics of Ethnicity
- Find out more about James’ research on Research Explorer
- Find out more about James’ project capturing how BAME people with mental illness are coping with coronavirus pandemic.
Gary Younge
Gary Younge joined as a Professor of Sociology in 2020 from The Guardian, where he was a columnist and editor-at-large. His most recent work has focussed on youth violence, relating to shootings in the United States, where he was The Guardian correspondent for 12 years, and knife crime in Britain.
- Follow him on Twitter @GaryYounge
- Watch Gary’s Lockdown Lecture
- Find out more about Gary’s research on Research Explorer
- Read his New Statesman article We Can’t Breathe: What connects the most brazen forms of state violence against black people and the struggles of BAME coronavirus patients is systemic racism.
Video: Transforming Cities
Razieh Zandieh
Razieh is a Lecturer in Urban Design and Planning in 2017. She completed her PhD research on ‘Healthy urban planning: the influence of the built environment on older adults’ outdoor walking’ in 2017, at the department of urban and regional planning and geo-information management, ITC, University of Twente, the Netherlands.
- Find out more about Razieh’s research on Research Explorer
- Follow Razieh on Twitter @RaziehZandieh
Richard Kingston
Richard is Professor of Urban Planning and GISc, the Deputy Director of the Spatial Policy Analysis Lab and leads the Cities and Environment theme at Digital Futures. Richard has been at the forefront of developing web-based GIS tools to support spatial decision making for smarter cities and is responsible for GIS toolkits such as https://www.commute-flow.net/ and https://www.climatejust.org.uk/
- Find out more about Richard’s research on Research Explorer and http://www.ppgis.manchester.ac.uk/
- Follow Richard on Twitter @gisplanner
Jonatan Pinkse
Jonatan is a Professor of strategy, innovation, and entrepreneurship at and Executive Director of the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research (MIoIR), Alliance Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester. His research interests focus on corporate sustainability, business model innovation, social entrepreneurship, cross-sector partnerships, and the sharing economy.
- Find out more about Jonatan’s research on Research Explorer
- Follow AMBS on Twitter @AllianceMBS
- Follow Jonatan on Twitter @JonatanPinkse
Joe Ravetz
Joe Ravetz is Co-Director of the Collaboratory for Urban Resilience & Energy at the Manchester Urban Institute, University of Manchester. He has pioneered the art of strategic thinking for sustainable cities and regions and has recently published Deeper City; Collective Intelligence and the Pathways from Smart to Wise
- Find out more about Joe’s research on Research Explorer
- Follow the Urban Institute on Twitter @UoMUrban
- Read Joe’s Urban Institute blog on pandemic and the cities game
Video: Women and Work
Bina Agarwal
Bina is a Professor of Development Economics and Environment at the Global Development Institute (GDI). She has written extensively on gender inequalities in land and property, environmental governance, and agrarian change. In April 2020 she wrote about whether global lockdowns were affecting women more than men, and has also participated in a webinar focused on the effect of COVID-19 on women’s livelihoods in India. Her most recent book publication is Gender Challenges (Oxford University Press), a three-volume compendium of her selected papers. In 2017 she was awarded the International Balzan Prize.
- Find out more Gender Challenges.
- Find out more about Bina’s research on Research Explorer.
- Read Bina’s paper on how family farms outperform individual family farms in Kerala.
Francesca Gains
Francesca is a Professor of Public Policy and the Academic Co-Director of Policy@Manchester. Her key interests are in gender, devolution and policy-making processes. She was key to the publication on On Gender, a collection of edited research blogs putting gender on the devolution agenda. Recently she hasn’t written about how to build a more gender-balanced future following COVID-19.
- Follow Francesca on Twitter @FrancescaGains
- Find out more about Policy@Manchester
- Find out more about Francesca’s research on Research Explorer.
Debora Price
Debora is a Professor of Social Gerontology and the former Director of the Manchester Institute for Collaborative Research on Ageing (MICRA). She is interested in pensioner poverty and in how women’s situations throughout their lives affect their circumstances as pensioners.
- Follow Debora on Twitter @GerontologyUK
- Find out more about MICRA
- Find out more about Debora’s research on Research Explorer
Jill Rubery
Jill is a Professor of Comparative Employment Systems and the Director of the Work and Equalities Institute at Alliance Manchester Business School. Her research focuses on employment and social policies, with a focus on gender and comparative employment research in Europe.
- Find out more about the Work and Equalities Institute
- Find out more about Jill’s research on Research Explorer
Video: Creative Industries, Communities and the Creative Sector
Abi Gilmore
Abi is Senior Lecturer, Programme Director for Arts Management and Cultural Policy at University of Manchester. Her sociological background encourages her to critically engage with social, philosophical and historical aspects of the arts and culture and the politics of how they are managed.
- Find out more about Abi’s research.
- Find out more about the Institute for Cultural Practices.
- Follow Abi on Twitter.
Kostas Arvanitis
Kostas is Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Museology, Institute for Cultural Practices. His expertise lies in the area of Digital Heritage that includes the theory and practice of digital technology in museums, galleries and heritage sites.
- Find out more about Kostas’ research.
- Follow Kostas on Twitter
Rebecca Parnell
Rebecca is Creative Producer at Creative Manchester and Manchester Camerata. Her three-year role involves producing concerts and undertaking research and knowledge exchange projects with The University of Manchester.
- Find out more about Manchester Camerata.
- Follow Rebecca on Twitter
Wendy Gallagher
Wendy Gallagher is Head of Learning and Engagement at Manchester Museum. Wendy leads on the Museum’s hello future development project, which aims to become the UK's most imaginative, inclusive and caring museum.
Wendy is also strategic lead for health and culture across the Manchester partnership (Manchester Museum, The Whitworth Gallery and Manchester Art Gallery) and was recognised for outstanding and innovative contributions to arts and health research and practice by Royal Society of Public Health in 2012.
- Find out more about Manchester Museum
- Follow Wendy on Twitter
Giorgio Fazio
Giorgio is Chair of Macroeconomics and in the Creative Industries Policy Evidence Centre. He is Co-Investigator on a PEC research project which aims to understand the changes to the way that we consume culture at home during COVID-19, the findings of which are discussed in the seminar.
- Find out more about Giorgio
Video: History of Pandemics
Pratik Chakrabarti
Pratik is Director of the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine in the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health. Pratik’s expertise spans South Asian, Caribbean and Atlantic history from the eighteenth to the twentieth century.
Pratik leads the University College for Interdisciplinary Learning unit ‘From Cholera to COVID-19: A Global History of Epidemics’. He recently wrote for The India Forum about how India’s response to COVID-19 reflects its colonial past.
- Find out more about the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine.
- Find out more about Pratik’s research on Research Explorer.
Jaime García-Iglesias
Jaime is a PhD candidate in the School of Social Sciences. His research focuses on sexuality, public health and the online environment. His recent work examines gay men’s changing relationship with HIV/AIDS.
- Find out more about Jaime’s research on Research Explorer.
- Read Jamie’s Policy@Manchester blog about the role of desire and fantasy in HIV-prevention policies.
Tanja Müller
Tanja is Professor of Political Sociology at the Global Development Institute (GDI). Her research spans a number of areas including convening the GDI’s Research Group on Migration, Refugees and Asylum. She has previously worked on the implications of the HIV/AIDS pandemic for rural development in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Find out more about the Global Development Institute.
- Find out more about Tanja’s research on Research Explorer.