In a paper published today in Management in Education, as part of a special issue on embedded research, I argue that the government’s cuts to the social sciences within higher education, alongside those being made to local authority budgets in some of the most deprived areas of the country, present researchers with an imperative to take their work beyond the ivory tower. I argue that adopting a more ’embedded’ approach to research, which addresses publicly important questions, involves the public in the research process and engages the public with its findings, is not only crucial for re-engaging academic social science with the public and refounding its legitimacy as a discipline, but also offers scope for providing support to local communities at a time of unprecedented austerity.
