Festival of Social Science - Using stories to understand systems
Published: 23 September 2025
As part of the Festival of Social Science, join the Centre for Public Policy for an in-person public event on 6 November 2025. This is an interactive, workshop where participants will create composite stories to explore multi-policy governance issues related to poverty. You will get to actively engage with evidence and practice collaborative storytelling, highlighting real-world policy challenges.
Key details
Thursday 6 November 2025
2pm - 4pm
Studio Two, Advanced Research Centre,
University of Glasgow, Chapel Lane, G11 6EW
Book your place through the Festival of Social Sciences
Event information
In this session you will develop a story from data that illuminates a multi-policy governance problem.
At the Centre for Public Policy, we are working on a Robertson Trust-funded project, The State of Poverty, which looks at how decision-making at different levels of government impacts the lives of people living in poverty.
The State of Poverty explores how individual policies at the UK, Scottish, and local levels overlap and shape the experiences of people living in poverty. To achieve these research aims, we have adopted an innovative methodological approach, developing composite stories using secondary data.
Composite stories, similar to vignettes or case studies, are a powerful tool to exhibit a range of common experiences in one narrative that is both emotive and accessible to policy actors.
What to expect
- The session will begin with an introduction to composite stories and our approach thus far through sharing some examples
- You will be provided with an evidence base with a range of different data to draw upon, statistics and qualitative evidence on a specific governance issue, such as access to healthcare
- Then, in groups, you will design a composite story that is a shared, data-driven narrative to clearly illuminate the policy problem
- You will have relative flexibility in terms of the style and protagonists of your composite story, as long as it is consistent with the available data
This is a public event. It's open to anyone with an interest in politics, policy and evidence-based research, of particular interest to policymakers, public sector professionals, researchers, students, and anyone interested in social policy, governance, or poverty issues.
We hope to see you there!
Book your place through the Festival of Social Sciences
Listen to The State of Poverty: Systems, Silos, and Solutions
First published: 23 September 2025
<< Events
Key details
Thursday 6 November 2025
2pm - 4pm
Studio Two, Advanced Research Centre,
University of Glasgow, Chapel Lane, G11 6EW
Open to all
Book your place through the Festival of Social Sciences