Covid and Society: Children and Young People

We collected qualitative data and interviewed over 30 people – academics and members of external partner organisations – about the effects of Covid-19 on their research, work, and the communities they work in. The interviews focused on these two areas highlighted by the British Academy: Health and Wellbeing; and Communities, Cohesion, and Belonging. Within these areas, we asked interviewees to reflect on the themes of inequalities (and the effect of Covid-19 on exacerbating or highlighting inequalities), cohesion (such as relationships between communities), and governance (for example, welfare, and the effect of Covid-19 on national and local relationships). Within this framework, we asked the interviewees what the short- and long-term challenges and opportunities of Covid-19 could be on their work and the communities and people they work with.

At the time these interviews were conducted, November 2020, the longer-term effects of the pandemic were starting to be understood. The interviews thus stand as a snapshot of the effects of Covid-19 several months into the pandemic and the second national lockdown, but before the rollout of the vaccination programme and the subsequent ‘roadmap’ out of the pandemic. The responses to the pandemic range from having to postpone research and events, to moving services and work online as far as possible, to uncertainty over what the post-Covid-19 world might look like. You can access the report below.

Covid and Society: Children and Young People report