Reports

This short briefing from Smart Thinking is based on the second survey of UK think tank employees conducted in October 2022. For the third year we surveyed those working in UK think tanks to take a look at average pay, conditions in the sector and any other issues from the past year. We also analysed...

This report from UK think tank RUSI looks at how communities in Kenya have responded to the request of increasing reporting of ‘suspicious activities’. This paper empirically explores how communities have responded to the request of increasing reporting of ‘suspicious activities’. More specifically, it explores to what extent community members of Garissa and Lamu counties...

This report from UK think tank IIED looks at COVID-19 as a pandemic of amplified inequality and highlight its cross-cutting lessons. COVID-19 produced winners and losers: in vaccine access, care burdens, disease outcomes, income, education, healthcare, and many more. Since disadvantages intersect and compound, communities in poorer nations fared worst. In October 2022, nearly three...

This report from UK think tank EDSK provides an investigation into the quality of apprenticeships in England. Exactly ten years after the publication of a major government review into the quality of apprenticeships in England, a new report from the education think tank EDSK finds that many apprentices are receiving such a poor experience that...

This report from UK think tank the Centre for European Reform looks at how Brexit has hampered UK science and innovation. Britain’s spat with the EU over participation in the €95 billion Horizon Europe research programme remains one of the biggest issues in the fractious post-Brexit UK-EU relationship. The EU will not allow Britain to...

This report from UK think tank the Centre for Social Justice looks at the next steps for dismantling the poverty premium. We estimate that nearly seven million people in Great Britain are paying multiple poverty premiums – this is where low-income households pay more than those on higher incomes to access essential products and services,...

This report from UK think tank RUSI looks at North Korea's involvement in aspects of the illegal wildlife trade to generate foreign currency. The North Korean government has a long history of involvement in illicit activities to generate foreign currency, which it uses to fund the regime elite and its weapons proliferation programmes, currently subject...

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government looks at predictions public services will be performing worse in 2025 than on the eve of the pandemic. Jeremy Hunt’s spending settlement is likely to leave most public services performing worse in 2025 than on the eve of the pandemic – when performance levels were...

This report from UK think tank the Centre for Social Justice is a plan to unleash the potential of adult community education and bolster economic growth. Learning and skills underpin our country’s growth trajectory. Without a stronger foundation of education for all and opportunities to retrain and develop the world-class skills needed for a competitive...

This report from UK think tank HEPI looks at making the case for a series of short questions on university application forms. The UCAS personal statement is a 4,000 character / 47-line essay that applicants submit when applying for UK undergraduate programmes. There is growing recognition that the UCAS personal statement needs reform, including from...

This report from UK think tank The King's Fund looks at why politicians struggle to give the NHS the staff it needs. The workforce crisis has been a prominent issue for years, but there has been little concerted action from governments to tackle the challenge. For almost two decades now there has been no clear...

This report from UK think tank RUSI looks at the UK’s short-to-medium investments in Joint All-Domain Operations (JADO)-type capabilities. With limited resources and a host of urgent force modernisation and regeneration requirements, the UK’s short-to-medium investments in multidomain integration/Joint All-Domain Operations (JADO)-type capabilities will need to be incremental.

This report from UK think tank IPPR looks at how views have changed and what this means for the current politics of immigration. Public attitudes to immigration have warmed considerably in recent years. This paper – drawing on new analysis of attitudes data, including the British Election Study and the Ipsos immigration tracker – explores...

This report from UK think tank the Sutton Trust looks at the mental health and wellbeing of young people in year 11. This briefing, analysing data from the first wave of the COVID Social Mobility and Opportunities (COSMO) Study, considers the mental health and wellbeing of young people in year 11, mainly focusing on the...

This report from UK think tank Green Alliance looks at a tax road map for how the tax system can support a net zero economy. The UK has committed to net zero by 2050. Although this will address climate change, it is well understood that the transition will also increase the country’s energy and resource...

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government sets out a competent, calm and consistent plan for a growth agenda. Rishi Sunak should reject any “dash for growth” and instead “hard-code” into his government a growth agenda robust enough for difficult times. This paper, written by former No.10 adviser Giles Wilkes, says Sunak...

This report from UK think tank Localis looks at working together against flash flooding. As the impacts of climate change become clearer every year, the UK must be better prepared for the manifold impacts of extreme weather events, including floods. In England alone, some 5.4 million homes – one-in-six – are at risk of flooding,...

This report from UK think tank CLES looks at progressive frontiers in local economies. Critiques of traditional and mainstream economic approaches are well established. In 2021 CLES published a provocation that advocated for a community wealth building approach to empower local areas and communities to maximise their existing skills, talents and capabilities in the pursuit...

This report from UK think tank RUSI looks at the national and international progress on Tempest on five fronts. The Tempest programme, within the envisaged Future Combat Air System (FCAS), is of multi-dimensional importance, involving British military capability, advanced technology development, operational independence, international standing and relationships, economic prosperity and long-term defence industrial capability. Four...

This report from UK think tank Chatham House looks at the factors enabling or inhibiting transatlantic cooperation. With the global economic and strategic centre of gravity shifting eastwards, both Europe and the US are unsurprisingly placing greater focus on the Indo-Pacific. Their respective approaches to the region often overlap but diverge on significant points. These...

This report from UK think tank the Institute of Welsh Affairs maps out current resources available to regulators and policy-makers in Wales. The project will be published in full in early 2023, and include three sections: Part 1 aims to provide an overview of the current legislative and regulatory frameworks governing broadcasting in Wales. Part 2 will...

This report from UK think tank the Institute of Welsh Affairs looks at how improving access to the media, news and information in Wales, especially in an era of ‘fake news’. We wanted to understand where people get their news and information from, how much they trust it, and how it makes them think and...

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government looks at the erratic evolution of the British constitution since 1997. MPs and ministers must do more to protect and bolster the checks and balances that uphold the UK constitution – or risk damaging public trust in the governance of the UK and core democratic...

This report from UK think tank IPPR looks at investing to reduce child poverty this winter. In this report, in partnership with the TUC and CPAG, we make the case for additional household support, combined with revenue raising measures. Instead of further ad hoc support, families need certainty with which to plan for the winter...

This report from UK think tank RUSI looks at Moscow’s approach to the Black Sea region and Georgia’s role within Russian strategic thinking. Russia's War against Ukraine has fundamentally destabilised the Black Sea region and caused greater insecurity among the littoral states. The militarisation of the Black Sea as well as Russia’s ambitions to strengthen...