New academic partnership to help students develop social science skills

Imperial students will be equipped with a deeper understanding of how societies function in order to tackle world challenges.

Imperial, King’s College London and Queen Mary University of London, have been awarded Doctoral Training Partnership status by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).The new London Interdisciplinary Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership (LISS-DTP) will support world-class training to address key research priorities and global challenges across the social science disciplines.

Social science is the study of society and the manner in which people behave and influence the world around us.

Professor John Polak

The new partnership will provide studentships in social sciences. It will enable students to work with some of the world’s leading experts in areas including: health, well-being and social inclusion; economics and business; language, culture and education; the environment and urban life; and security and governance. 

Professor John Polak, from Imperial’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is the research lead from the College’s side of the project. Colin Smith caught up with Professor Polak to talk about why social science is important in helping the next generation of business people, doctors, engineers and scientists tackle some of the world’s most pressing problems.

Why is the LISS-DTP important?

In order to understand some of the really big challenges the world faces such as climate change we need to understand the complex and interconnected interactions between the natural world, man-made systems and human behaviour. Increasingly, these problems need the expertise of many people working in a range of fields including physical sciences, engineering and health.

Imperial needs to equip the next generation of problem-solvers with the skills in social sciences so that they can understand the impact that their solutions may have on society, so that the strategies they develop bring maximum benefits for people.

Can you give me some current examples of where an understanding in social sciences is playing an important role in tackling issues?

The rolling out of smart meters in homes is a really good example. This is where homeowners need to change their energy consumption patterns in order to take advantage of cheaper tariffs. This could reduce the demand for energy in peak times and make the electricity grid more able to cope with increasing demands, which will lead to energy savings that can be passed on to consumers. However, in order to get consumers to change the way they use energy, policymakers, engineers and industry need an understanding of how communities and home owners use the technology in order to affect change.

Another example is from the transport sector. There are many potential benefits to introducing autonomous vehicles. For example they might reduce pollution and improve road safety. However, engineers need skills in social science in order to understand how to design autonomous vehicles that people will actually want to buy.

In terms of public health, such as dealing with the spread of infectious diseases or the health impacts of environmental hazards, understanding the social implications of disease control strategies is paramount to getting communities to change their practices and adopt new approaches to containing outbreaks.

Imperial students are already using social sciences in their studies so how will the LISS-DTP improve on this?

Yes, that is correct. There is already a considerable amount of social science research in the Faculties of Natural Sciences and Engineering and the Business School, addressing these and related challenges.

For example, one of my post docs, who has a background in economics, did his PhD with me in the area of the economics of time use. This is a classical social sciences subject. Right now this field is of intense interest to the computing sector as it enables engineers to better understand how to develop and deliver new mobile infrastructure and services. We are now working with a major ICT company developing these ideas. LISS-DTP will enable an expansion of the scope and ambition of such work for future generations of PhD students.

Can you tell me how the LISS-DTP will support students?

The DTP will be organised around 13 thematic areas ranging from conflict and human security to finance and the world economy. Each theme will involve collaborations among researchers in the three institutions. These themes grow out of strong existing collaborations, such as between King's and Imperial in the area of public health, or strong shared interests.

LISS PhD students will be able to draw flexibly on existing and new Masters-level teaching activities at all three institutions and benefit from the complementary industrial, government and charities links of each institution. It is an incredibly exciting opportunity for students, which I believe will have major benefits for their careers in the future.

How can interested students find out more about the programme?

There will shortly be a brand new LISS web site containing lots more information, but in the meantime anyone interested in LISS is welcome to contact me.

Top photo: Thomas Angus