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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For Starters

Louise Bazalgette

This project draws together existing and new evidence and present practical policy recommendations for improving nutrition for children aged 0-3.

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Ageing Across the EU

Louise Bazalgette

Demos is investigating the different experiences of older people across EU countries.

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Ageing Sociably

Louise Bazalgette, Claudia Wood, Phillida Cheetham

This project will identify ways that private companies can make use of their local presence and existing operating structures to generate new social opportunities for older people.

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Masculinity

The Modernisation of Masculinity

Jen Lexmond, Julia Margo, Aaron Peters

This project explores how society and public policy could better support men’s changing roles in their relationships, in their workplaces and in their homes.

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Commission on Assisted Dying

Louise Bazalgette, William Bradley, Beatrice Karol Burks, Sarah Kennedy

Demos will act as secretariat to the Commission on Assisted Dying, an independent inquiry into the issue of assisted dying in the UK.

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Coming of Age

Louise Bazalgette, John Holden

Drawing on older people’s perspectives, this project will explore ageing in culture and society and investigate how public policy should respond to the challenges posed by our ageing society.

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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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Ending Forced Marriage

Max Wind-Cowie, Phillida Cheetham

This project aims to identify an effective cross-border approach to tackling forced marriage in Britain.

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Open Society Dialogues

Dan Leighton

This project explores the tensions, hidden assumptions and challenges to the ideals and institutions that make open societies.

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Civic Service International

Jonathan Birdwell, Susanna Pettigrew

This research will look at the potential benefits of a British international citizen service, investigating how it can be integrated into Big Society initiatives and increase civic engagement.

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The Future of Work

William Davies, John Knell

The project will explore the possibilities for a new politics of work.

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The Power Gap

Dan Leighton, Simon Hampson

A landmark project on everyday power shows how far we have to travel to become a nation of powerful people.

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A People's Inquiry into Personal Information

Peter Bradwell, Dan Leighton

This project will feature a 'People's Inquiry' to explore people's attitudes to the use of their personal information. It will use the outcomes from the deliberative groups to develop practical ideas for matching public expectations and personal information policy.

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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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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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Experts

Jack Stilgoe

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

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The Nanodialogues

Jack Stilgoe, James Wilsdon, Matthew Kearnes, Phil Macnaghten

Nanotechnology - the science of small things - promises to be one of the defining technologies of the 21st Century. But what will it mean for society and the environment? And how can public engagement in deciding the direction of research be moved 'upstream'?

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Glasgow 2020

Glasgow 2020 is the non-institutional story of Glasgow’s future - a project to collect-together the imagination of the city through workshops, competitions, events and creative-projects.

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The Journey to the Interface project

Joe Heapy

Drawing on all of our public services work of the last three years, as well as over fifty interviews with service innovators in the public, commercial and voluntary sectors, this project explores the emerging discipline of service design, and what it has to offer to ways of approaching the transformation of public services.

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The Business of Resilience

The project highlights a number of practices – some current, others aspirational – which constitute a manifesto for twenty-first-century corporate security.

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The Other Glass Ceiling

Hannah Green, Sophia Parker

This project outlines a new agenda for debate about family life and argues that it is in the public interest to strengthen the relationships between families, state and civil society.

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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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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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Under One Roof

Claudia Wood, Phillida Cheetham

Demos is currently looking at how social housing providers can act as co-ordinators and hubs for support and earlier intervention for their clients.

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Advising Ambition

Eugene Grant, Jonathan Birdwell

This project will focus on school-to-work transition: how our education and training systems are preparing young people for employment.

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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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