Category: Social Policy

Social Policy
Two diverse groups of people sit and chat with their laptops open

Stakeholder Collaboration

Social Science Insights

The social sciences and humanities have diverse relevance to many sectors. The challenge lies in how to best communicate knowledge, and engaging effectively with stakeholders. Let’s look at how government and communities can best collaborate with social scientists.

  • Five diverse professionals (construction worker, business workers, and medics) stand together, smiling, with their arms folded. Title says: 6 Ways social science and humanities contribute to society
  • A globe showing the Americas sits against a grey background. Text describes the study by Dr Fecher and colleagues, involing 125 professionals, who say social science and humanities have strong societal application
  • A magnifying glass sits on a pink surface. Text says: explain: describe and contextualise issues
  • Arrows point diagonally from the left-hand-side, against a pink background. Text says: Reflect: discuss and interpret issues
  • A notebook, plant, tablet, and pencil lie in the corner of a yellow surface. Text says: Educate: build knowledge and skills
  • A traffic light with a red arrow pointing up hang high against a blue sky with a few clouds. Text says: Signal: unearth issues relevant to public discourse and policy-making
  • An arm pushes out from a hole in a red wall, holding binoculars. Text says: Foresee: predict potential problems in the fuure, such as the ethics of new technologies
  • A series of blocks with arrows point right and branch off in opposite directions, arranged in a sideways "Y." Text says: inform: influence ans support decision-making
  • A line of diverse people sit, smiling, with one arm and hand up in the air, as if volunteering. Text says: learn more about how social science helps soceity: SocialScienceInsights.com
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Social Policy
A white man's hand squeezes the pump as he fills his car with petrol

How to Stop Panic Buying

Social Science Insights

The war on Iran led to petrol shortages in early 2026. We look at structural issues and biases that impact this behaviour, and how social science theories, social norms, and morality messages may stop consumer hoarding in future.

  • A white man's hand pumps petrol into a car. Title: Social science of why people panic buy and how to stop it
  • Illustration of a green petrol pump on the bowser. Title: Poor policy planning
  • Illustration of a service station in the distance on a sunny day. Quote from Prof Tarryn Phillips, Dr Danielle Couch, and Dr Carmen Vargas: "We must continue to scrutinise fuel markets and disribution failures."
  • Illustration of a man with his fist covering his mouth and his other arm across his shape. He looks down, worried. Title: Fearing loss
  • Black and white illustration of a man and woman in silhouette against large arched windows. They look up and face away from each other, as if disagreeing. Title: misinformation feeds fear
  • Illustration of a young Asian woman hiding inside a large cardboard box, looking anxious. Title: Regain control
  • Illustration of two women in hijab walking outdoors with a Black South Asian man as they hold coffees. Title: blaming individuals doesn't help
  • A Black woman patient looks down, worried, as a white male doctor points at a device. Title: personalise the risk
  • A white woman smiles softly as she walks outdoors, and holds a paper heart over her chest. Title: appeal to morals
  • Illustration of a Black woman driving a car, smiling, with a male passanger beside her. Title: learn more: SocialScienceInsights.com
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Social Policy
Two white women and a man stand at the edge of a cliff. One of them points into the distancce while the other takes a photo with her phone

Measuring Public Information Campaigns

Social Science Insights

Social science can help marketers, decision-makers, and businesses to effectively use social norms to change behaviour. Below are two case studies on the environment and health.

  • Four diverse young workers sit around a table looking at documents and a laptop. Title reads: Measuring Public Information Campaigns
  • Four diverse people stand in a row looking at their phones, smiling, against an orange wall. Title reads: media campaigns
  • Two white women and a man stand at the edge of a cliff. One of them points into the distancce while the other takes a photo with her phone. Title reads: E.g. Environment
  • A diverse group of young women stand indoors in a tight circle, laughing
  • A group of Black women in hijab laugh while sitting in two rows. One of them fixes her friend's hijab
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Social Policy
A silhouetted people walk down a hill, following one person in the lead

How to Encourage Community Change

Social Science Insights

How can you use social science to encourage communities to change collective behaviours? We cover how to identify a behaviour that needs to change, how to target the key audience, how to encourage change, and the best mode of communication to reach the intended community. The provided check list will help you communicate effectively with local communities.

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Social Policy

Encouraging Referrals

Social Science Insights

This post provides tips for improving public health communications. I show examples from studies that encouraged doctors to comply with health guidelines. I discuss a case study of a health organisation that sought to increase patient referrals to a free treatment program.

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Social Policy
Two men stand on cracked land, one of them kneels touching the ground, the other stands looking to the distance

Emergency Disaster Support

Social Science Insights

How can you encourage your customers to take up free support services? We look at how to get employers and workers to complete a survey sent via SMS, and sign-up for emergency disaster relief.

Man wearing a hat stands in a middle of a barren field in New South Wales
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Social Policy

How to Improve Services for Vulnerable Clients

Social Science Insights

Governments and companies provide a range of free services to improve the lives of vulnerable clients, yet few people take these up. Below is an overview of why this happens and how to improve take-up of life-saving services.  

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Social Policy

Using Social Science to Address Injustice

Social Science Insights

Social science was used in a state inquiry into social injustice. This includes a review of information services, analysis of policy and program outcomes, and identifying the social and economic impact of racial inequity.

  • Infographic showing people talking in quadrants, a man holding a giant magnifying glass, people holding puzzle pieces making a heart, and a man frowning at graphs. Title reads: Using social science to address injustice
  • Infographic showing a man standing beside a giant folder showing houses, writing, and starred reviews, as well as a person moving items around a giant calendar. Title: My team used social science in a State inquiry into social justice
  • Infographic of a man in a uniform and cap holding a giant magnifying glass with a question mark in the centre, surrounded by giant letters, charts, mail, and photos, as well as a man with a frustrated expression, sitting on his knees on top of a giant laptop, as the screen and surrounding files show error warnings. Title: How we used social science theorey and method
  • Infographic of a white woman holding a giant magnifying glass in front of a giant signed document. Title: review of state archives
  • Infographic showing a woman presenting to an audience while standing in front of a line graph. Title: evaluation of programs
  • Infographic showing a smiling man, with his hands behind his back, standing in front of three giant documents, the one in the centre with a ribbon over the top, as well as a woman pointing to a giant laptop. Title: Thematic analysis
  • Infographic showing a person with a speech bubble that has a bar chart inside, as they point to a giant clipboard holding a document. Title: evidence framework
  • Infographic of people holding pieces of a pie chart. Each piece shows buildings, a megaphone, a truck, and icons of people. Title: Methodology to measure inequality
  • Infographic of five people arranged in a semi circle around a giant speech bubble. Title: admive on anti-racism
  • Infographic showing people along a line graph, one with a speech bubble, one holding giant light bulb over their head, and another pointing to a presentation of a box. Text: Learn more about how social sciennce supports policy and justice: SocialScienceInsights.com
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News and Events, Social Policy

Race and Social Policy

Social Science Insights

‘Race at Work Within Social Policy,’ has been published in the book, Critical Racial and Decolonial Literacies: Breaking the Silence, edited by Dr Debbie Bargallie and Dr Nilmini Fernando. This book chapter demonstrates how inadequate racial literacy impacts social policy documentation, including policies attempting to implement anti-racism principles.

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News and Events, Social Policy

Race, Welfare, and COVID-19

Social Science Insights

The new book chapter, ‘Critical Race Studies and Intersectionality Responses to COVID-19,’ presents a case study of how the welfare state exercises multiple domains of power to maintain racial inequality, even during the public health crisis of COVID-19. Read the abstract and an excerpt below.

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