The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Social Science and Policy aims to bring together parliamentarians and social scientists to demonstrate the relevance and value of social science research.
APPGs are informal cross-party groups that are run by MPs and Lords, and which can involve individuals and organisations from outside parliament.
The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) supports the APPG on Social Science and Policy by funding the group’s secretariat.
The APPG meets between six and eight times per year at Westminster to debate a range of topical social science issues, and demonstrate their importance to society and policy. Meetings are being held remotely during the coronavirus pandemic.
The audience at the meetings is invite only. It is typically made up of MPs, lords, their research staff, civil servants and policymakers.
Recent events
Social mobility and education
6 December 2022
Speakers:
- Professor Lee Elliot Major, Professor of Social Mobility, University of Exeter
- Professor Birgitta Rabe, Co-Investigator at the ESRC Research Centre on Micro-Social Change and Understanding Society, University of Essex
The cost of living crisis: food insecurity, food banks and public policy
9 November 2022
Speakers:
- Grace Wyld, Senior Policy Researcher, Trussell Trust
- Rachel Loopstra, Senior Lecturer in Public Health, University of Liverpool
- Dr Hannah Lambie-Mumford, Co-Director, Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute, The University of Sheffield
How can the UK best support refugees from Ukraine?
21 June 2022
Speakers:
- Enver Solomon, Chief Executive, The Refugee Council
- Jacqui Broadhead, Director, Global Exchange on Migration and Diversity, Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS), University of Oxford
- Professor Brienna Perelli-Harris, University of Southampton and ESRC Centre for Population Change
What the local election results mean for the parties
18 May 2022
Speaker: Sir John Curtice, Professor of Politics at Strathclyde University, Senior Research Fellow at NatCen, President of the British Polling Council
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health
22 March 2022
Speakers:
- Dr Daisy Fancourt, Associate Professor of Behavioural Science and Health at the Institute of Epidemiology and Health, University College London
- Dr Polly Waite, Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford and Honorary Consultant Clinical Psychologist at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust
- Paul Spencer, Head of Health Policy at Mind
The future of social care funding
26 January 2022
Speakers:
- Sir Andrew Dilnot, Warden of Nuffield College Oxford and former Chair of the Commission on Funding of Care and Support
- Professor Yvonne Birks, Deputy Director of the NIHR School for Social Care Research, University of York
- Ben Zaranko, Senior Research Economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies
Economic recovery of high streets across the UK
7 December 2021
Speakers:
- Paul Swinney, Director of Policy and Research at the Centre for Cities
- Professor John Gathergood, Professor of Economics at the University of Nottingham
The Autumn Budget and Spending Review October 2021
26 October 2021
Speaker: Professor Paul Johnson, Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
Behaviour change for reaching net zero: what’s the cost?
30 June 2021
Speakers:
- Professor Paul Johnson, Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies and member of the Climate Change Committee (CCC)
- Professor Lorraine Whitmarsh, Director of the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations, University of Bath
The future of work
20 April 2021
Speakers:
- Professor Sir Cary Cooper, Professor of Organisational Psychology, Manchester Business School
- Professor Patricia Findlay, Director of the Scottish Centre for Employment Research (SCER) and Co-investigator at the ESRC PrOPEL Hub, University of Strathclyde
- Dr Zoe Young, Co-investigator of the UKRI and ESRC research programme Work After Lockdown
Britain after Brexit
2 February 2021
Speakers:
- Professor Anand Menon, Director, UK in a Changing Europe and Professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs, King’s College London
- Professor Catherine Barnard, Deputy Director, UK in a Changing Europe and Professor of EU Law, Trinity College Cambridge
The economic impact of COVID-19 on business and the economy: how will the UK recover?
24 November 2020
Speakers:
- Professor Paul Johnson, Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies
- Swati Dhingra, Associate Professor of Economics, LSE
2019 General Election result and some constitutional implications, 15 January 2020
Speakers:
- Sir John Curtice, Professor of Politics, University of Strathclyde
- Professor Meg Russell, Director of the Constitution Unit, University College London
APPG officers
Co-chair: Sir Peter Bottomley MP, Member for Worthing West
Sir Peter has served as a Member of Parliament since 1975. He has been Father of the House of Commons since 2019. Between 1984 and 1990 he held three consecutive posts as a junior minister in Margaret Thatcher’s government. He has represented the Worthing West constituency since 1997 and currently sits on the Ecclesiastical Committee (Joint).
Co-chair: Mr Daniel Zeichner MP, Member for Cambridge
Daniel was elected to Parliament in 2015. Prior to becoming an MP he was a district councillor in south Norfolk. Between 2015 and 2017 he served as a shadow junior minister (Transport). He is currently Shadow Minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Rules on APPGs
See rules on APPGs (takes you to Parliament.UK)
Contact details
Brittany Davis, Social Science and Policy APPG secretariat
Email: brittany.davis@palaceyard.co.uk
Telephone: 020 8798 0397