Area of investment and support

Area of investment and support: Digital society

UKRI Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) supports the creation of new insights from research and data that help us to ensure that social science guides the adoption of new technologies, amplifying positive societal outcomes and mitigating potential harmful effects.

Partners involved:
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)

The scope and what we're doing

ESRC supports research that helps us to understand the relationships between technologies, societies and change, and how people’s relationships with self, others and the world are mediated through and affected by technology.

We are interested in understanding how new technologies can be designed, developed and adopted to make the most of the economic and social benefits while reducing the risks.

Areas we cover

We fund social science research that looks at how new technologies are used by and affect people, government, businesses, the economy and society, as well as social science research that guides the development, adoption and diffusion of new technologies. Areas we cover include:

  • business interaction with technological innovations, the impact of technological innovations on businesses (their practices, operations, adoption and diffusion), industry collaboration with social science, commercialisation of new technologies
  • crime and justice
  • digital public services, digital citizenship
  • economy, growth and productivity
  • education
  • finance and banking
  • health and social care
  • international contexts (such as international security, world politics, multilateral governance)
  • national security and defence
  • personal and social life
  • service provision
  • transport, environment and sustainability
  • work, businesses and people

Key current investments

Centre for Sociodigital Futures brings together world-leading interdisciplinary expertise to explore sociodigital futures in the making to support fair and sustainable ways of life.

Digital Good Network investigates what a good digital society should look like and how we get there, focusing on equity, sustainability and resilience.

Digital Futures at Work Research Centre aims to increase understanding of how digital technologies are changing work and the implications for employers, workers, job seekers and governments.

The Collaboration of Humanities and Social Sciences in Europe (CHANSE) programme is a joint initiative of 27 research funding organisations from 24 countries. A series of international research projects under this programme were funded through the ‘Transformations: social and cultural dynamics in the digital age‘ funding opportunity.

ESRC Education Research Programme works with researchers, teachers and policymakers to explore two themes:

  • teachers, their role, their recruitment, retention and professional development
  • the uses of technology for teaching and learning in UK schools

Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats (CREST) is the UK’s interdisciplinary hub for behavioural and social sciences research into security threats. Projects include research on understanding and countering online threats and extremism, cyber security, behavioural analytics and the use of digital technologies to spread disinformation and misinformation.

Adopting new technologies

We are also interested in how we can help facilitate the adoption and diffusion of new technologies, see the following examples of investments.

Discribe aims to radically update the digital infrastructure currently underpinning the global economy, making it secure against future threats.

InterAct Hub: pioneering human insight for industry works on the uptake of digital technologies by the manufacturing industry.

The Programme on Innovation and Diffusion looks at how innovation and new technology can contribute to increased productivity growth. It’s part of the larger Productivity Institute Programme.

The joint ESRC and Innovate UK Next Generation Professional and Financial Services Programme supports the professional service and financial service sectors in developing and using digital technologies. This includes:

Future Flight Social Insight aims to better understand some of the key social and economic issues relevant to the future of flight.

Why we're doing it

The increasingly rapid advance of technology is transforming the world in which we live. Although new technologies are providing huge benefits to our everyday lives, they also have the potential to cause damage, ranging from online bullying, mass de-skilling and job loss through to ‘fake news’ and threats to the foundations of the democratic process and national security.

Digital skills and access to technology are also increasingly required to access public services and employment, which is serving to widen a ‘digital divide’ in society and runs the risk of exacerbating inequalities.

As stated in the current ESRC Strategic Delivery Plan (2022 to 2025), our role is to ensure that social science guides the adoption of new technologies, charting a path which identifies and amplifies their positive societal outcomes while exposing and mitigating potential harmful effects.

Who to contact

Ask a question about this area of investment

Email: esrcenquiries@esrc.ukri.org

Telephone: 01793 416060

Last updated: 24 January 2025

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