By Hanne O. Mogensen, Associate Professor, University of Copenhagen
Julaina A. Obika, Senior Lecturer, Gulu University
Labour migration from Uganda to the Middle East has surged since the early 2000s, with many young women travelling for employment as domestic workers. Most of these jobs are in Oman, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
However, researchers, journalists…
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By Jake Brooker, Research Associate in the Department of Biology, Utrecht University
Zanna Clay, Professor in the Department of Psychology, Durham University
During an eight-month-long research trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia, we studied consolation: the way bonobos and chimpanzees comfort each other after conflicts and distress. But early on, we kept noticing something that didn’t quite fit.
The animals were exchanging a lot of friendly physical contact, embracing, touching and kissing, in competitive situations before any clear conflict or distress signals had broken out. We…
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By Jo Richardson, Professor of Housing and Social Inclusion, Nottingham Trent University
On his first day as prime minister, Andy Burnham promised to end rough sleeping, and pledged an additional £340 million to the cause. A positive aim for society, to be sure, but what he didn’t mention is that we’ve nearly solved this before. The question isn’t whether ending rough sleeping is desirable or achievable, it’s why previous attempts have collapsed.
On a single night in England last autumn, 4,793 people slept rough.…
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By Nick Brindle, Professor of Cell Signalling, University of Leicester
From microplastics clogging up our oceans to landfills leaching out dangerous chemicals, plastic waste is a serious and growing problem for human health and the environment. We need to recycle more, and crucially, recycle better.
Most plastic that is recycled is melted and remoulded into lower-quality products such as carpet fibres and garden planters, before eventually ending up in landfill or the incinerator. This is downcycling rather than proper recycling. Current methods don’t enable the recovery of the…
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By Zoe Stephenson, Associate Professor of Forensic Psychology, University of Birmingham
Ongoing problems in the criminal justice system in England and Wales, from overcrowding in prisons to court backlogs, have raised fundamental questions about how and why we punish people.
Advocates for a more rehabilitative, less punitive system often point to Scandinavian prisons as a model for how things could be done better.
My colleagues and I wanted to find out how beliefs about free will and crime…
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By José Navarro, Catedrático de Psicología del Trabajo y de las Organizaciones, Universitat de Barcelona
“It’s not personal, it’s strictly business.” This line, which echoes throughout Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 gangster film The Godfather, epitomises the classic view of management: doing business is, above all, about making money, even if it means sacrificing all of the personal, social aspects of work.
However, the ongoing crisis of mental health in the workplace is forcing managers to take employees’ emotional wellbeing into account.
To…
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By Melissa Lee, Senior Lecturer, School of Mathematics, Monash University
Yet another longstanding mathematical question has been resolved by AI – and it feels a little different from the ones that have come before
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By Jessica Holloway, Senior Research DECRA Fellow, Institute for Learning Sciences and Teacher Education, Australian Catholic University
For some families, NAPLAN results will confirm what they already know. For others, they may contain surprises or raise concerns.
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By Jake Brooker, Research Associate in the Department of Biology, Utrecht University
Zanna Clay, Professor in the Department of Psychology, Durham University
During an eight-month-long research trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia, we studied consolation: the way bonobos and chimpanzees comfort each other after conflicts and distress. But early on, we kept noticing something that didn’t quite fit.
The animals were exchanging a lot of friendly physical contact, embracing, touching and kissing, in competitive situations before any clear conflict or distress signals had broken out. We…
(Full Story)
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By Steve Schifferes, Honorary Research Fellow, City Political Economy Research Centre, City St George's, University of London
The UK’s new prime minister, Andy Burnham, laid out a radical agenda in his short speech upon taking office. He called for a long-term strategy to reverse 40 years of Thatcherism, and the privatisation and centralisation that resulted. Wisely, he put a ten-year horizon on these objectives and it is now up to his new chancellor, John Healey, to realise his ambitions.
Sensibly, Burnham has also announced less costly but limited measures to deal with the cost of living and the housing crisis – intended…
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