An AI generated short summary of the main points of the our Director's blog, originally published on 6 February 2026 on NIESR website: https://niesr.ac.uk/blog/how-should-we-pay-increased-defence-spending

In this episode Social Researcher Marley Williams is joined by three Community Researchers who have conducted interviews to people in receipt of Universal Credit (UC) and/or housing benefit as part of NIESR's UKRI funded Living Standard Review 2025, sharing their insights into the main issues of the current welfare system in the UK.

In this episode, Freya Thomas is joined by NIESR Associate Research Director Edoardo Masset to discuss the effectiveness of the so called 'WASH' interventions, and what next in the implementations of these important packages to try to reduce mortality in the countries analyzed.

In this episode, Freya Thomas is joined by NIESR Associate Economist Hailey Low, NIESR Senior Economist Ben Caswell, and NIESR Research Lead for Regional Modelling and Microsimulation Arnab Bhattacharjee. They discuss the economic inheritance of the new UK Government, and outline the main priorities for the economy as a new parliamentary cycle begins.

In this episode, Freya Thomas is joined by NIESR Deputy Director for Macroeconomic Modelling, Professor Stephen Millard. They discuss the recently published Bernanke Review on the Bank of England's forecasting processes, talk about what's next for Central Banks and the UK economy (including inflation and interest rates), and give a preview on what to expect from the forthcoming NIESR UK Outlook, to be published next week.

This podcast discusses the progress that has been made for women in economics and the barriers that still remain, proposing solutions to overcome these inequalities and inspire inclusion.

In this episode, to mark International Women’s Day 2024, Freya Thomas is joined by NIESR Postdoctoral Research Associate Dr Margarida Bandeira Morais, NIESR Principal Economist Dr Larissa Marioni, NIESR Economist Patricia Sánchez Juanino, NIESR Assistant Economist Robyn Smith, and Kingston University - and NIESR Fellow - Professor Michela Vecchi.

This podcast discusses migrant community organising in crisis situations, focusing on the case of Latin Americans in London during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this episode Luca Pieri is joined by NIESR Senior Social Researcher Dr Domiziana Turcatti and Associate Social Researcher Jasmin Rostron, and three leaders in the Latin American community in London: Ms Claudia Lopez, a Colombian English as Additional Language teacher at the Saint Gabriel’s College, a secondary school in London; Bruna Boscaini, Director of IRMO, The Indoamerican Refugee Migrant Organisation, and and Lucia Filinich, The Health and Wellbeing Project Lead at IRMO.

The recent #AutumnStatement has been delivered against a backdrop of low economic growth, high inflation, and falling living standards for nearly half of the UK population.

Luca Pieri is joined by NIESR Senior Economist Max Mosley to discuss the latest on the UK economy and analyse some of the measures announced in the recent Autumn Statement.

UK GDP is currently (2023 Q1) 0.5 per cent below the level of GDP before the pandemic. Our forecast does not have it passing this level until the third quarter of 2024.

Luca Pieri is joined by Hailey Low to discuss the current state of the UK economy

Deputy Director for Social and Political Economy at NIESR Professor Adrian Pabst joins Luca Pieri for a health check up on how levelling up is faring in the UK. Are the current measures working and are the benefits being felt around the UK? Or is the regional divide becoming deeper still?