BROWSE OUR CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS

Family and Society

Focusing on how public policy can be better designed to give people and families more power over their lives, this programme brings together research into parenting, ageing and the impact of social change on young people. Led by Louise Bazalgette and Matt Grist, our projects are based on expert analysis of trends, innovative research methods and a progressive vision of social change.

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Born Creative

Charlie Tims, Celia Hannon

This project gathers ideas from across the cultural world on how to support the development of creative capabilities.

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Measuring Capabilities

Matt Grist

This report pilots a set of tools to measure the difference that structured activities make to a young person's capabilities.

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The Character Inquiry: Call for evidence

Jen Lexmond

Demos is issuing a call to evidence for it's work on The Character Inquiry.

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The Character Inquiry

Jen Lexmond, Matt Grist

A growing body of evidence shows that character is the most important factor in determining life chances.  The Character Inquiry brings together research leaders and experts to explore how developing character skills can be encouraged in public and private life.

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The Way We Live Now

Beatrice Karol Burks

Demos is exploring how lifestyles in Britain have changed in the past few decades and what it is that make our modern lives unique.

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Anatomy of Youth

Celia Hannon, Charlie Tims

Anatomy of Youth is a new research project which will look at society and policy making from the perspective of young people in Britain aged 16-25.

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Citizens

Decades of policymaking framed around consumer choice and economic growth have left those formulating policy unsure on how best to balance public and private interests. Led by Jonathan Birdwell, our work in this area seeks to understand the public interest and determine what implications it has for relationships between the state, citizens, business and civil society.

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Sweet charity

Jonathan Birdwell, Ally Paget

This project aims to quantify and measure the actual economic and social value of Britain's 5,500 charity shops within communities.

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Be prepared: Scouts and employability

Jonathan Birdwell

This research will seek to explore the extent to which the Scouting movement helps impart employability skills such as team work, confidence, interpersonal skills and leadership

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Families, parenting and harmful drinking

Jonathan Birdwell, Emma Vandore

This project examines how a parent's problematic relationship with alcohol can impact on parenting and children’s perceptions of alcohol.

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Faith and society

Jonathan Birdwell

This project explores the role of faith groups in 21st century British society – in particular, their role in progressive politics.

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Eurovisions

Jonathan Birdwell

This project will investigate young people's attitudes towards the EU across Europe.

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Backsliders: measuring democracy in the EU

Jonathan Birdwell, Sebastien Feve

This project will explore how the European Union can prevent 'backsliding' on democratic commitments among member states.

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Violence and Extremism

The last decade has seen a rapid growth in extremist and violent behaviours. There are growing incidences of gang membership, gun and knife crime, religious and political radicalism, and violence motivated by intolerance of others. Led by Jamie Bartlett, our work on violence and extremism seeks to understand what drives such behaviour.

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The New Public Diplomacy

Charlie Edwards, Alex Evans, David Steven

Public diplomacy – diplomacy directed at people rather than other diplomats – is vital for tackling global risks like climate change, terrorism or HIV obliterate geographic, disciplinary and organisational borders. This project explores how governments can equip themselves to operate effectively in this new context.

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Political Ideas

Alongside and connected with our research programes, Demos has political projects focused on the burning issues in current political thinking.

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The Atlas of Ideas

Jack Stilgoe, James Wilsdon, Kirsten Bound, Natalie Day, Molly Webb, Charles Leadbeater

The Atlas of Ideas was a three year programme at Demos, which explored changes in the global geography of science and innovation. Between 2005 and 2008, it published studies of China, India, South Korea and Brazil.

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Future Planners

Peter Bradwell

The planning system has been reborn – what roles will planners be playing, and what tools will they need, to maximise the democratic potential of the planning system?

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The Collaborative State Collection

This collection will outline the lessons to be learned from inter-organisational collaboration in practice, through case studies looking at successful collaboration in action, and conceptual and systems analysis.

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Demos Website

Our new website is designed for transparency and discussion. Let us know if you have technical difficulties, questions about new features, new ideas and suggestions.

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Greening Up Demos

Charlie Tims, Melissa Mean, Molly Webb, Celia Hannon, Joost Beunderman

We're committed to being an environmentally-friendly organisation. With all the travel we're doing, it's not going to be easy. We want to share our experiences and efforts at going green on this page - with the ultimate aim of becoming a zero carbon/zero waste workplace.

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Experts

Jack Stilgoe

We rely on experts more and more. But we trust them less and less.

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Public Services

The Coalition Government is facing the most significant fiscal challenges of postwar Britain. Led by Claudia Wood, our work on public finance will interrogate how the radical action needed to rebalance the budget can be undertaken without abandoning progressive goals.

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Time and place

Claudia Wood, Ally Paget, Jo Salter

This research aims to identify precisely what values people associate with dying in a home environment and establish why so many more people say they want to die at home.

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Generation strains

Duncan O'Leary, Jo Salter

This project will analyse the generational shift in attitudes towards the welfare state and its far-reaching implications.

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Transitions at the end of life

Claudia Wood, Ally Paget, Jo Salter

Demos is exploring the possibility of personalised end of life care that reflects personal values and also involves maximum choice and control for care users and their families.

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A wider lens

Duncan O'Leary, Jo Salter

Through this project, Demos hopes to paint a detailed and evidence-based picture of the lives of families who are struggling with the cumulative effect of multiple disadvantage in Scotland today.

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The Power of Prepaid

Jo Salter, Claudia Wood, Ally Paget

This research is exploring the potential of prepaid card technology to achieve a personalised, integrated, empowering state.

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The Home Cure

Claudia Wood, Jo Salter

This project looks at the role social housing providers can play in helping people back to independent living following a period in hospital.

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Centre for London

A new think tank exploring the great economic, social and environmental challenges facing London. The capital is the most productive economic region in the UK, but it also faces great challenges such as a severe housing shortage, child poverty, unemployment and demographic change. Centre for London, led by Ben Rogers, acts as a critical friend to London government, to develop rigorous and radical solutions to London's problems.

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Olympics Scorecard

Jess Tyrrell, Rob Whitehead

The London Olympics are on track to regenerate a vast swathe of East London, turning a poisonsed industrial site into the biggest new park since Hyde Park, but how will Londoners really benefit and have the goals been met?

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Smart London

Ben Rogers, Jess Tyrrell

Smart city technologies promise to make cities more efficient, liveable and productive. There are real implementation challenges on introducing new technologies at scale in an established city. What are the costs and benefits for London?

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Getting London Working

Rob Whitehead

Despite being one of the most prosperous cities in the world, London has among the UK’s highest rates of worklessness: one in three working age Londoners is out-of-work. What will be the impact of welfare reforms on London and how London can get the best from this new system? How can models of localism and devolution boost employment in the capital?

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London's Calling

Rob Whitehead, Stephen Evans

This project focusses on access to higher education in London's schools and boroughs and looks at high skills as a key economic driver. 

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The Thames: Making More of the Heart of London

Ben Rogers

The Thames is one of London's greatest assets but also presents one of its more pressing challenges. How can improvements to the quality of the architecture and public spaces, and more use of the banks and the river itself be financed, managed and delivered?

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East London Tech City

Rob Whitehead, Max Nathan, Emma Vandore, Jess Tyrrell

The plans for East London Tech City have generated a good deal of excitement. But the way ahead is far from clear. This project looks at how these plans can be best achieved, by comparing East London to other international tech based regenerations and by talking directly to entreprenuers.

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