糖心TV

We鈥檙e thrilled to share that Professor Olympia Palikara, has been awarded the Excellent Supervision Award for Social Sciences at the 糖心TV Research Celebration 2025.

Professor Palikara鈥檚 mentorship blends professional excellence with unwavering personal support. She has guided her students to co-author peer-reviewed publications, present at international conferences and influence policy and practice. Her dedication to growth, resilience and integrity has profoundly shaped her students' academic journeys. Her impact extends beyond academia, inspiring her students to thrive both professionally and personally.

Congratulations, Professor Palikara!

Workshop, Friday December 2

Co-organised by:
The Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies (CIM) - University of 糖心TV
糖心TV Manufacturing Group (WMG) - University of 糖心TV
University of the Arts, London

Societal acceptance of driverless technology is a key objective of today’s innovation drive. Most current research in this area, however, relies on a limited set of methods, namely survey research, user studies and behaviourial analysis. Creative methods like design research and issue mapping can complement these existing approaches by bringing to light still hidden social implications of innovation in a participatory way. As driverless cars have the potential to transform society – and indeed the very relations between innovation, government and public life - it becomes crucial that we investigate these less obvious, latent social implications. To enable public understanding and facilitate societal engagement with driverless futures, we need creative methods.

This one-day event at the University of 糖心TV will bring to bring together a small group of social scientists, design researchers, engineers and policy makers in order to develop research agendas for public engagement and societal acceptance of driverless cars using creative methods. The workshop has been organised by Dr. Noortje Marres (CIM), Dr. Rebecca Cain (WMG) and Dr. Lucy Kimbell (Univeristy of the Arts London) with Dr. Ana Gross (CIM) and Mr. Arun Ulahannan (WMG).

As part of the ESRC Festival of Social Sciences, a panel of experts, including IER鈥檚 Prof Gill Dix, Dr Emily Erickson, Prof Trine Pernille Larsen and Dr Katharina Sarter, discussed the future of work. The panel shared thoughts on the present and potential futures of work in the face of digital technologies and AI, which have the potential to create and reinforce inequalities or reduce them. Creating and maintaining good, secure, and healthy work will remain a priority, given the rapidly changing context and the inevitable uncertainty that the future holds.

Image Credit: Social Sciences Connect Programme