@davidbowkett
Head of Productivity and Growth at ESRC. I am interesting in new technologies, how they are used, how people interact with them, and how they lead to economic growth. I like also happily talk to you about cricket, bikes and heat pumps He/him. Views my own
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. 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...
(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).
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.
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:
I agree with this. I can't think of any time I would need to drive down Park Street.
This is a great read and contains an early candidate for "Understatement of the Year"
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...
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/
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...
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-...
Thanks to the @productivity.bsky.social team for a fascinating afternoon.
📣📣 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...
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...
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.
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...
A great opportunity to work with @productivity.bsky.social to develop actionable insights on how businesses can improve productivity.
📢 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...
🆕 📢 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...🧵
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...
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. 📰
A great thread on the challenges of measuring public sector productivity.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Are you interested in how the use AI as a research tool is (and isn't) changing the practice of science?
If the answer is "yes!" and you also happen to be an early career researcher, then the following fellowship opportunity might be for you.
www.ukri.org/opportunity/...
One of my aims for the new year is to write more about our strategy and our funding decisions.
In the spirit of our anniversary, I'm starting with some reflections on what our history & structure implies for how we fund, and our role in the soc sci ecosystem.
open.substack.com/pub/magicsmo...
There is a great photo of the Clydach Gorge in this piece. This is home to the village of Clydach were I grew up - and where my family has lived for generations. The gorge was one of many incredible engineering challenges of building this new road.
Cannot recommend this BBC piece highly enough for anyone interested in productivity, growth, infrastructure and regional economics.
This is deeply personal for me as the road cuts right through my village. I learned to drive in these road works nearly 20 years ago!
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...