Recovery from the societal impacts of Covid: the FMSH joins the British Academy statement

The British Academy brought together SSH representative bodies from G7 countries in call for a "globally equitable" recovery from the societal impacts of COVID

In an unprecedented series of joint declarations, the British Academy and social science and humanities representative bodies from G7 countries - United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United States - call governments to seize the moment to lead a "globally equitable" recovery from the long-term societal impacts of COVID-19.

With the UK hosting this year’s G7, the British Academy convened a virtual forum of social science and humanities representative bodies from every country in the group – the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the USA – to reflect on the lasting effects that the pandemic has had on societies around the world.

The statements are signed by the British Academy, the Royal Society of Canada, the Fondation Maison des sciences de l'homme, the Union of the German Academies of Sciences and Humanities, the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, the Science Council of Japan (SCJ), and the Social Science Research Council.

Areas of research

The statements summarise the above representative bodies’ research findings on:

Community engagement: Focusing on how context specific to place, culture, social and economic factors, shapes people’s responses to COVID-19;
Education, skills and employment: Focusing on responses in and beyond the pandemic for education, work and employment;
Trust, transparency and data gathering: Focusing on how COVID-19 has affected society’s relationships with information, data, the media and the role of experts;
Inequalities and cohesion: Focusing on how COVID-19 has affected and highlighted inequalities and relationships between communities of people, and senses of community and belonging;
Fiscal policy and recovery: Focusing on how economies and societies can collectively harness their fiscal resources to respond to the challenges posed by the pandemic.