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COP29 delegates standing in a row in the Wave

Conference of the Parties (COP) 29

The Faculty of Social Sciences is well represented at this year's COP currently underway in Azerbaijan with delegates from a range of disciplines.
Festival of the Mind

Festival of the Mind 2024

We hope you can join us at Dr Steph Ejegi-Memeh's event, Unearthing Our Joy, which is part of this year's Festival of the Mind.
Festival of the Mind

Festival of the Mind returns to Sheffield

Sheffield's Festival of the Mind is back for its seventh edition this September (19-29 September). The free Festival, featuring the beloved Spiegeltent in Barker's Pool, promises to be the most ambitious programme yet.
A photo of Helen Kennedy

Professor Helen Kennedy elected as Fellow of the British Academy

The British Academy has bestowed its highest honour in recognition of Helen's research which investigates how developments in digital technology are experienced in everyday life.
Woman holding a mobile phone

New Instagram policy bans harmful weight loss content for younger users

Dr Ysabel Gerrard has been involved in a ground-breaking new policy change from a social media giant to restrict access to content about certain weight loss plans and cosmetic procedures for under-18s.
A family with a young child sat with a social worker

Research conducted by Sheffield academics included in new APPGC report on children’s social care

Professor Kate Morris, Dr Will Mason and Calum Webb from the University of Sheffield were recently part of the four nation study of unequal rates of care and protection interventions in children’s lives.
remember baby

Baby loss research wins ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize 2019

Professor Kate Reed from the Department of Sociology is a winner of the Outstanding Societal Impact in the ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize 2019 with colleagues Dr Elspeth Whitby and Dr Julie Ellis for their research into infant post-mortems.
Undergraduate students in a lecture theatre

New leadership for the Department of Sociological Studies

On May 1st 2019 Professor Kate Morris will step down as Head of Department, and after a short period of study leave she will take up her new role as Faculty of Social Sciences Director of Teaching and Learning (from August 1st 2019).
Lines of code from a computer programme

What does Facebook’s #tenyearchallenge tell us about public awareness of data and algorithms?

Helen Kennedy reflects on the recent #tenyearchallenge trend. Looking at responses to the challenge, she considers what they tell us about the public understanding of data and the companies that utilise it. Drawing on qualitative and survey data on the levels of public awareness, she finds that what the public knows about data continues to be unclear.