The Economic and Social Research Council’s Festival of Social Sciences is an annual, weeklong series of free engagement events held across the UK which celebrate the research that helps us understand and shape the society we live in.

This year the festival has gone virtual, bringing society to your sofa.

The University of Nottingham festival programme for 2020 features two very different aspects of emerging research from our social sciences community:

• Interested in the role that animals play in producing new medicines? Join Dr Pru Hobson-West and Renelle McGlacken (School of Sociology and Social Policy) for an interactive and creative workshop session from 12noon on Tues 10 November.
  Book your place.
• Dr Rachael Lamb (Nottingham University Business School) will give live sessions on ‘Encouraging Employee Innovation’ across three consecutive mornings (10am – 12noon, 10 – 12 November), to look at ways of harnessing employee insight and boosting innovative performance despite challenging times.
  Book your place.

More details are available on the Faculty of Social Sciences webpage.

You can also sign up for the nationwide programme of more than 200 free virtual events happening between Saturday 7 and Sunday 15 November through the festival website. This includes sessions from midlands partner universities such as:

• Is it a Crime to be Poor? (University of Birmingham)
• Woman’s Suffrage and Me (University of Warwick)
• Cityzen-ship: What does a Brummie education look like? (University of Birmingham)
• Cannabis: is it just a plant? (University of Leicester)

The complete ESRC Festival of Social Sciences 2020 programme listing by institution is available through the ESRC website.

Keep up to date with what’s happening on Twitter by following the #ESRCFestival hashtag.