Articles

• "A Review on the Association between Intake of Soda Beverages and Incidence of Type-2 Diabetes in the Adult Population of North America" - Aishat Abubakar
• "Sex Education in England and its Link to the Issue of Sexual Coercion amongst Young Women" - Rosalba Castiglione
• "Measuring Social Worker’s Wellbeing from a Capability Perspective: Developing a Capability Set" - Daniel Lemmon
• "Deepfake Policy Brief" - Yaping Ma
• "The Impact of Globalization and Neoliberalism on Inequality and National Autonomy – UK and Sweden Case Studies" - Kathleen Rosina Pittman
• "Bridging the Digital Gender Divide" - Seanique Reuben
• "A Review and Meta-analysis of the Effect of Tea on the Prevention of Depression" - Jingyi You

 

Foreword from the Subject Editor

The 2021 BILT Student Journal Policy Studies section exemplifies the important work that student researchers bring to the conversations of topical policy issues preceding and impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We would like to congratulate the seven authors for their impeccable writing and diligence.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought many changes to the world, as well as progressed mechanisms of change such as misinformation, globalisation, and neoliberalism. Meanwhile, prior health-related concerns such as diabetes, depression, and sexual coercion persisted and amplified in importance during a surge of global lockdown and minimal service access. In the fall of 2020, students interested in Policy Studies embarked on an entirely virtual course, the likes of which have never been seen before. Here, key work by colleagues from the University of Bristol discuss current topics in policy studies and research.

Lemmon’s focus group work highlights the challenges of virtual interviews and participant recruitment in the collection of qualitative data. Pittman explores the complicated relationship between income inequality, neoliberalism and globalisation in Western countries, concluding a need for constructing more salient identities of global citizenship. Yaping Ma's piece on deepfake policy is timely due to the connection between rising mistrust in science and widespread social media misinformation campaigns that became prominent during the pandemic. Castiglione’s work on young women’s experience of sexual coercion and sex education highlights the methodological basis of interpretivist thematic analysis integral to understanding the development of violent gender dynamics, and how policy can address this through education. Reuben’s work highlights how policy can help improve employment opportunities for women by bridging the technological gender divide. Jingyi You’s work on the effects of tea intake on depression became relevant in an era where psychological distress was spiking while access to helpful services and healthy coping mechanisms was restricted. Finally, Abubakar’s work grounds us back to persistent health concerns outside of the pandemic through highlighting the persistence of type-2 diabetes and its connection to soda-intake.

We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to the Policy Studies board for their hard work and dedication throughout this journey.

Lisa Waddell and Shalini Sivakrishnan

Subject Editors for Policy Studies

With thanks to:

Hannah Coles - Deputy Editor

Jemma Pembury - Deputy Editor

Xenia Levantis - Copy Editor

Sita Nithiananda - Copy Editor

Hsiao-Ho Chuang - Copy Editor

Jo Clough - Copy Editor

Yunyan Li - Peer Reviewer

Adeola James-Lawal - Peer Reviewer

Emma Hope Cassinelli - Peer Reviewer

Yaping Ma - Peer Reviewer