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Posts by David Bowkett

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It's Just Banter: Building resilience to objectifying content online The Online Objectification team will share the processes and findings from the multidisciplinary community lead research project.

It's Just Banter: Building resilience to objectifying content online

Hosted by Dawn Woolley, this Include+ Network event is suitable for academics, educators and community practitioners interested in supporting young people in building resilience online.

www.eventbrite.com/e/its-just-b...

11 hours ago 2 2 0 0
The Productivity Institute’s new Managing Director, Professor Jun Du. Pictured: Jun Du.

The Productivity Institute’s new Managing Director, Professor Jun Du. Pictured: Jun Du.

Quote from Jun Du: "The Productivity Institute has built an exceptional research platform and a nationwide network that reaches from Whitehall to local economies."

Quote from Jun Du: "The Productivity Institute has built an exceptional research platform and a nationwide network that reaches from Whitehall to local economies."

Welcome to our new Managing Director - Professor Jun Du!

Starting 1 August 2026 and based at @alliancembs.bsky.social, Jun will succeed @bartvanark.bsky.social, who will continue to work with the Institute as a Senior Fellow.

Find out more: www.productivity.ac.uk/news/the-pro...

11 hours ago 4 2 0 1
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ESRC Digital Good Network (@digitalgoodnet.bsky.social) Amy Orben (@orbenamy.bsky.social), Research Professor at @cam.ac.uk, will be delivering the keynote lecture at our 2026 summit, exploring the growing interest in the impact of digital technologies on…

There's less than a month until our keynote reflecting on policy, young people and digital technologies.

Join us online, or in-person in Birmingham.

3 weeks ago 1 1 0 0

I am a big fan of the estate car, which sadly seams to be out of fashion. We were able to get two big car seats in the back and a double buggy in the boot of ours without any issues at all.

1 month ago 0 1 0 0

3. The new zoo is really good. Bear woods - a fenced of area of woodland, where bears and wolves roam together, with a raised walkway above - is incredible. I saw two wolves facing off a bear from a couple of meters away once. Its quite amazing.

2 months ago 2 0 0 0
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Is there truth behind the Bristol Zoo parking attendant myth? It now seems that there could be truth to the urban myth

2. Any discussion of the parking at the old zoo has to be an excuse to share this incredible urban myth. www.bristol247.com/news-and-fea...

2 months ago 3 0 1 0

(No criticism of the presenters here. Covering things in other parts of the country when you are a independent podcast is hard. You can't have local knowledge of everywhere you would like to talk about).

2 months ago 0 0 1 0

1. They refer to the old zoo as being next to a "local college". This is in fact the >£35k per year private school Clifton College. This doesn't really effect the arguments of the segment, but perhaps gives more of a flavour of what the local environment around the old zoo is like.

2 months ago 1 0 2 0

I finally got round to listening to the segment about Bristol Zoo over the weekend. As someone who lives near(ish) the old zoo, and is a regular at the new zoo, here are some additional thoughts from me:

2 months ago 3 1 1 0
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I agree with this. I can't think of any time I would need to drive down Park Street.

2 months ago 1 0 0 0

This is a great read and contains an early candidate for "Understatement of the Year"

3 months ago 3 1 1 0
What Happens When Real People Try e-Cargo Bikes?
What Happens When Real People Try e-Cargo Bikes? YouTube video by Global Cycling Network

Some great coverage of some really interesting UKRI-funded research here.

As someone who is already an e-cargo bike user (they're great) and as someone interested in how people and technologies interact, this is really up my street.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ0K...

5 months ago 8 1 0 0
Professor Sir Ian Chapman in conversation with staff

Professor Sir Ian Chapman in conversation with staff

We’re delighted to welcome Professor Sir Ian Chapman on his first day as UKRI CEO. 1/

8 months ago 12 2 2 0
The impact of the 2025 US tariff announcements on UK firms In the first half of 2025, the US and some of its trading partners announced significant changes to import tariffs. This column uses newly designed questions to study the impact of these changes on UK firms and to assess the level of trade uncertainty. On average, the majority of firms expect no material impact on their sales, investment, and prices; those that do expect it to be a relatively small negative impact. Tariffs are a new source of uncertainty for firms, although the level of uncertainty remains lower than for previous shocks such as Brexit, Covid-19, or the Russia-Ukraine war.

Good use of the Decision Maker Panel data to look at US tariff impacts on UK firms.
As expected - broadly limited, although obviously a huge deal for a relatively small number of firms.

cepr.org/voxeu/column...

8 months ago 6 1 1 0
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Promoting economic growth Some thoughts on ESRC's role and ambitions

An important element of the new ESRC strategy we are working on is to make the promotion of economic growth an explicit goal of our work.

I've written a short piece about why we're doing this, and what that might involve.

magicsmoke.substack.com/p/promoting-...

9 months ago 3 2 1 0

Thanks to the @productivity.bsky.social team for a fascinating afternoon.

9 months ago 2 1 0 0

‪📣📣 Very happy to see our work on #regional #pay #disparities in the UK out.

#econsky📈📉
#geosky

@astonpress.bsky.social
@sheffielduni.bsky.social
@resfoundation.bsky.social

Have a look at the event and the report and stay tuned for more!

👀👇

www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications...

9 months ago 9 4 1 0
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Interested in applying for our research internships programme for PhD students? Want to find out more about the scheme? We’ll be hosting an online Q&A on 30 June to answer your questions.

Register for the Q&A here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/digital-go...

10 months ago 1 1 1 0

Great to see coverage of research funded through an ESRC sandpit I had the pleasure of helping to organise.

The inter-disciplinary researchers worked incredibly hard to bring together some high-quality research - making use of longitudinal data and qualitative methods - in a short amount of time.

10 months ago 1 0 0 0
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Barriers and Enablers to Advanced Technology Adoption for UK Businesses A study to understand the ecosystem of factors influencing the business decision to adopt a new technology.

I am looking forward to reading it back-to-back at lunchtime with this report from yesterday, which also had great contributions from social science researchers.

www.gov.uk/government/p...

10 months ago 2 0 0 0

A great opportunity to work with @productivity.bsky.social to develop actionable insights on how businesses can improve productivity.

10 months ago 4 1 0 0
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Andy Westwood Appointed to Skills England Board - The Productivity Institute Professor Andy Westwood, Policy Director at The Productivity Institute, has been appointed to the board of Skills England.

📢 We're proud to share that Professor Andy Westwood, Policy Director at The Productivity Institute, has been appointed to the board of Skills England - the new national agency shaping the future of post-16 education and skills in England.

🔗Read more here: www.productivity.ac.uk/news/andy-we...

10 months ago 3 1 0 0
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🆕 📢 We are pleased to announce that our latest State of Small Business Britain report has been published today! The report is our annual review of trends and issues affecting small businesses in the UK, drawing together the range of research and analysis the ERC team completed during 2024...🧵

1 year ago 7 3 1 1
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Still a long way to improve digital technology adoption in the UK - The Productivity Institute Advanced digital technologies show a wide variation in patterns of adoption and utilisation across regions and sectors in the UK.

How are UK businesses navigating digital transformation? A new blog by @alliancembs.bsky.social's Silvia Massini & Mabel Sanchez-Barrioluengo examines the data on adoption of advanced digital technologies and finds a wide variation across regions and sectors: www.productivity.ac.uk/news/still-a...

1 year ago 4 3 1 1
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Reject the quiet life — there is no growth without competition The UK government should learn from the sorry history of cartels and monopolies

CAGE Research Associate Alexander Klein with @timleunig.bsky.social
writes in the FT on the lessons that history provides when determining a ‘what works’ approach to economic growth. 📰

1 year ago 0 1 0 1

A great thread on the challenges of measuring public sector productivity.

1 year ago 0 0 0 0
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Kicking off #NationalProductivityWeek by partnering with @iofw.org on their closing event on the #PissaridesReview into the Future of Work and Wellbeing. With @productivity.bsky.social participation in #Shard London and AMBS in Manchester.

1 year ago 7 2 1 0

There are also lots of people who are doing great work on how we develop and use digital technologies @digitalgoodnet.bsky.social, @sociodigfutures.bsky.social, and @digitcentre.bsky.social who might know an ECR interested in this.

1 year ago 1 0 0 0

I can imagine that this is something the @productivity.bsky.social and @poid-lse.bsky.social might be interested in, as well researchers interested in how businesses use AI in R&D at @e-r-c.bsky.social.

1 year ago 1 0 2 0

This will likely be of particular interest to those working in STS and innovation studies, but the opportunity is open to researchers from all disciplines.

1 year ago 0 0 1 0