Introducing Our New Lunchtime Series: Democracy, Disinformation & Hope in the UK

Resilience & Reconstruction: An Insightful Deep Dive brings together five sharp, research-led sessions on the forces reshaping democracy, disinformation, and the prospects for hope in the UK today. Running fortnightly on Wednesdays from 12:00–13:15 BST on Zoom, each session draws on fieldwork, lived experience, linguistic analysis, and cutting-edge research — distilled into focused, high-impact conversations with leading practitioners and thinkers.

This isn't commentary but close analysis. Rather than taking public discourse at face value, the series slows things down — looking carefully at how narratives are constructed, how emotional cues operate, and how ideas come to feel like common sense. The kind of scrutiny that's rarely given space in a busy week, but matters more than ever. We go to the streets and talk to people, real one, rearely heard and taken seriously yet deciding on our future. We are launching a new series of online lunchtime conversations — and we'd like you to be part of them.

The full programme:

• 20 May — Right-Wing Populism: Language, Codes, Emotional Drivers Kirstie Skates & Steven Lacey | Moderated by Dr Olha Mukha

• 3 June — 'Unite the Kingdom' Rally: An Ethnographic Deep Dive Steven Lacey & Dr Olha Mukha | Moderated by Thomas Brayford | Sponsored by Peek Content

• 17 June — Conspiracy Theories: How They Spread, Where They Come From, and Where They Land Steven Lacey & Rebecca Skippage | Moderated by Dr Olha Mukha

• 1 July — The Disinformation Landscape: UK Public Attitudes Towards Ukraine, Narratives, Trust, Democracy and Mainstream Media

• 15 July — Hope Restored: Reconnecting with a Disengaged Public Research from The Outsiders | Supported by Resilience & Reconstruction

  
  

Free to attend. Register to secure your place.