We research protest movements working to build a sustainable, just and humane world.
Research methods
Public Opinion Polling
Commissioning respected pollsters, such as YouGov, to measure public opinion on key issues before and after large scale protest campaigns. You can see here an example of our polling work for Just Stop Oil, examining the radical flank effect.
About Social Change Lab
Social Change Lab conducts empirical research on disruptive protest and people-powered movements.
Protest movements have historically been crucial drivers of social change, yet little research and funding goes into understanding which strategies and tactics are most effective. We are the only research lab primarily dedicated to studying the impact of protest movements on public opinion, public discourse, and policy.
Through research reports, workshops, and trainings, we provide actionable insights to help movements and funders be more effective,
Our research
Our report on protest outcomes summarises 6 months of our research into the outcomes of protest movements. We covered topics such as the impact of protest movements on policy, public opinion, voter behaviour, and public discourse. We find that protest movements have had significant positive impacts, and think it's very plausible that they will do so in the future.
Our preliminary cost-effectiveness analysis of nonviolent climate protest in the UK also showed that it might have been one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce carbon emissions, at least in the first year of activities.
You can see more of our work on our Research page.
Protest movements can lead to transformative change.
From Civil Rights, to Women's Right to Vote, to LGBTQ+ rights, grassroots activism has played a key role in accelerating moral progress, and moving towards a more just society.
Despite this, very little research and funding goes into understanding how grassroots social movements can shape policy, public opinion, discourse and more. Even less effort goes into understanding how we can make social movement campaigns more effective.
We seek to address this gap. We think understanding and supporting social movement organisations is a necessary theory of change to bring about much needed change on some of the world's most pressing problems, whether it's the suffering of animals, climate change, or existential risks.
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Research methods
Literature reviews
Interviewing experts
Conducting literature reviews of existing political science and sociology research into protest and social movements.
Interviewing policymakers, academics and other experts to determine to what degree successful social change can be attributed to protest movements.
Theory of change analysis
Public Opinion Polling
Commissioning respected pollsters, such as YouGov, to measure public opinion on key issues before and after large scale protest campaigns. You can see here an example of our polling work for Just Stop Oil, examining the radical flank effect.
Understanding the causal pathways and mechanisms for which protest movements achieve social change, and examining the robustness of these pathways.