Oxford University Social Policy and Intervention

08/10/2026

🌡️ How can extreme heat affect menstrual health?

Dr Chloe Brimicombe recently appeared on Channel 4 News to discuss how extreme heat can affect women and young children.

💬 “Heat waves affect multiple different aspects of a menstrual cycle. So, it could be that you are having more periods within a month. You could have a shorter cycle length.”

Dr Chloe Brimicombe’s research explores the links between heat, menstruation and mental health in adolescents and young adults.

Key takeaways:

🔹 Heat may exacerbate menstrual symptoms.
🔹 The combined effects of heat, menstruation and mental health remain understudied.
🔹 Period poverty and stigma may intensify these challenges.

▶️ Watch the Channel 4 News clip to hear more from Dr Chloe Brimicombe: https://f.mtr.cool/00qlzuk3fv

Or, read the research paper in full:

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08/10/2026

📣 Our seminar series for Michaelmas Term kicks off next week!

Join us for the first seminar of the term with Professor Chris Desmond (University of Witwatersrand, South Africa) as he presents: ‘Other people: the risks of unbalanced specialisation in social policy’

The seminar will explore the ways we understand people and how this can shape social policy interventions, asking if it is time to rethink sector governance to facilitate the efficiency gains of a holistic perspective of potential beneficiaries.

Key details:
📅 Date: Thursday 15 October
🕓 Time: 16:00–17:30
📍 Location: Department of Social Policy and Intervention, Oxford + online
🔗 Find out more and register: https://f.mtr.cool/8hudwya97b

Please note: Registration is required for those outside of DSPI.

08/10/2026

🚨 We’re hiring!

We’re looking for a Quantitative Postdoctoral Researcher – Youth Participation and Mental Health to join an interdisciplinary research team working across the UK and Brazil.

The successful candidate will play a key role in a national trial of Cadê o Kauê? – a digital intervention supporting students in Brazilian state schools to promote their peers’ mental health and create more positive school environments.

➡️We’re looking for someone with:
• A PhD/DPhil (or close to completion) in a relevant subject and expertise in evaluating interventions
• Experience managing large datasets and conducting quantitative analysis using statistical software such as R, Stata or SAS
• Expertise in an area such as mental health, global health, adolescent, digital or school-based research
• Strong communication and collaborative research skills

🗓 Apply by: 4 November 2026, 12:00 noon
🔗 Find out more: https://f.mtr.cool/yree67re3q

07/10/2026

In the news: Dr Charlène Calderaro, SNSF Postdoctoral Fellow and Visiting postdoctoral researcher at DSPI, was interviewed by Sky News as part of a documentary on the far-right in the UK.

Investigating female-led anti-immigration groups across the UK and Europe, Data and Forensics correspondent Tom Cheshire used expert analysis from Dr Calderaro to contribute to the discussion around how women are intersecting with increasingly extreme ideas.

▶️Watch the full clip:

Data and Forensics correspondent Tom Cheshire investigates the rise of female-led anti-immigration groups across the UK and Europe, meeting activists, influencers and campaigners shaping a new movement.

07/10/2026

🔒🔒🔒Is the triple lock overhaul missing the bigger problem?

'The main issue with the triple lock is how it insulates a large and growing group of voters from the negative effects of economic stagnation.' Professor Tim Vlandas, Professor of Comparative Political Economy and Social Policy argues that the government’s overhaul of the triple lock misses the bigger problem: by still protecting pensioners when growth stalls, it leaves governments with little electoral reason to pursue growth.

Read more of Prof Valndas' expert commentary ⤵️

The debate around the triple lock has focused heavily on cost, but there’s a bigger political issue at stake.

Professor Tim Vlandas, from Oxford University Social Policy and Intervention, examines the proposed pension reforms and argues that protecting pensions when growth stalls could weaken governments’ electoral incentives to pursue economic growth ⬇️
https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2026-10-01-expert-comment-why-the-triple-lock-pension-reform-makes-its-political-problem-worse

07/10/2026

Professor Lucie Cluver will be speaking at the upcoming Pre-Conference Technical Learning & Preparatory Dialogue on 13 October (14:00 BST) in support of the preparations for the 2nd Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence against Children.

The session will explore practical approaches to strengthening financing for ending violence against children (EVAC) and advancing more ambitious, evidence-based commitments.

Find out more and register: https://f.mtr.cool/dqohfpyzlp

Co-organised by:
World Health Organization, UNICEF, World Vision International, University of Cape Town, Cornerstone Economic Research, Maestral International

PRE-CONFERENCE TECHNICAL LEARNING & PREPARATORY DIALOGUE Building the evidence, partnerships and financing arguments needed to turn EVAC commitments into action 📅 Thursday, 13 October 2026 🕣 2 PM BST 📍 Microsoft Teams Hosted By: World Health Organisation, UNICEF, World Vision International,...

06/10/2026

📣Team led by DSPI researchers and Safe Futures Hub launch first living dashboard on solutions to prevent childhood sexual violence

The interactive dashboard enables researchers, practitioners and others working in the field to explore evidence on interventions, laws and policies by country, age group, setting, and childhood sexual violence outcome including perpetration and victimisation.

Importantly the review includes evaluations of prevention efforts that found to have no effect, as well as evaluations associated with increased reports of childhood sexual violence victimisation and perpetration.

Unlike a traditional systematic review, which provides a snapshot of the evidence at a single point in time, a living systematic review is continually updated as new research becomes available.

The team of researchers was led by Dr Bridget Steele and Dr Amiya Bhatia at DSPI and Safe Futures Hub.

Find out more: https://f.mtr.cool/h7ppllcqvs

The global review evaluates interventions, laws and policies aimed at preventing childhood sexual violence victimisation and perpetration.

06/10/2026

Dr Bridget Steele (Departmental Lecturer in Evidence-Based Intervention and Policy Evaluation) is taking part in the upcoming Westminster Higher Education Forum policy conference 'Tackling sexual harassment in higher education - policy, prevention and reporting'.

Dr Steele will speak on the panel 'Student safety on and off campus - coordination across different settings, online abuse and student support.’

📆 16 October - find out more and register your place ⬇️

Dr Steele leads the OUR SPACE project, which is focused on understanding and preventing gender-based violence and sexual violence in higher education. She recently won a Breakthrough Researcher award at the University of Oxford Vice-Chancellor's Awards: https://f.mtr.cool/cpr3ddb9ss

Westminster Forum Projects (WFP) has its origins in the UK national Parliament, but its work now extends to policy decided in UK devolved Parliaments and Assemblies, the Oireachtas, and the European Commission and Parliament.

25/09/2026

ICYMI 🌡️How does heat affect menstrual health and mental health?

As temperatures rise due to climate change, understanding the wider health impacts of heat is becoming increasingly important.

A new study published in Dialogues in Health brings together evidence from multiple disciplines to examine the biological, psychological, and structural pathways linking heat exposure, menstruation, and mental health, with a particular focus on young people and adolescents.

The researchers identified important gaps in current evidence and propose a gender-responsive research agenda to inform more equitable, climate-resilient health strategies.

Lead author Dr Chloe Brimicombe, climate scientist at DSPI, commented: “We want to see more evidence that looks at this intersection, focusing on biological and psychosocial pathways, before looking at the intervention and policy solutions needed to protect people’s mental health and menstrual health.’

🎥 Watch Dr Brimicombe discuss her research with Channel 4 News: https://f.mtr.cool/53o8k9ol4y
🔗 Read research in Dialogues in Health: https://f.mtr.cool/lr5i1tq3vv

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24/09/2026

📢 New research from Dr Elifcan Celebi examining the gender, race and wage dynamics on care platforms has been published in The Journal of Social Policy.

As digital care platforms reshape how migrant care work is organised and governed, the study draws from over 15,000 worker profiles from four digital care platforms in Turkey to explore how migrant care workers are represented and positioned within the care market.

The study found:
▶️ Digital care platforms formalise visibility rather than employment
▶️ Platforms absorb a feminised migrant workforce that is often excluded from formal channels
▶️ Workers are required to curate their own biographies, creating hybrid (professional and affective) personas that can be used as marketable “care capital”.

🔗 Read ‘Visible but precarious: gendered and racialised representations of migrant care workers on digital care platforms’ in full: https://f.mtr.cool/j8j5cgbyh7

Visible but precarious: gendered and racialised representations of migrant care workers on digital care platforms