Newsletter

On 10 July, we were pleased to host a great panel of speakers sharing the latest research and insights on the impact of disruptive protest. You can watch the full recording here.

Between 2022 and 2024, a previously unknown campaign group in Sweden made wetlands a national issue. Återställ Våtmarker (Restore Wetlands), inspired by the tactics of Insulate Britain, ran a high-profile campaign of highway blockades and public event disruptions. Two years later, they declared victory, citing a significant government funding pledge and widespread public support for wetland restoration.

​​​From motorway sit-ins to museum protests, disruptive protests are hard to ignore. One of the most high-profile groups behind these actions, the UK-based Just Stop Oil, have announced they’re “hanging up the hi-vis”, and stepping back from civil disobedience. The move has reignited a familiar question: do these tactics win public support—or provoke backlash?

Many activist groups believe there is a clear and urgent moral imperative to stop the companies most responsible for climate breakdown from making the crisis worse. More and more campaigners, communities and organisations are recognising that meaningful change means targeting the industry itself. Not the individual consumer, not the abstract public, but the companies digging and drilling, the banks backing them, and the systems that allow them to carry on.

Whether or not we realize it, artificial intelligence is reshaping the world with breathtaking speed. Promoted as a panacea to cure diseases, revolutionize industries and tackle the world’s most intractable problems, AI is also quietly displacing workers, amplifying biases and creating surveillance systems pervasive and pernicious enough for any dystopian. As if that weren’t enough, there’s the prospect of super intelligent AI outpacing human control altogether.

Our new report, Protest and the Ballot Box, analyses 916 days of polling on voting intention in the United Kingdom, Germany and Sweden. The headline: disruptive climate protests shift voting intention towards pro-climate parties. Effects are small but consistently tilt toward greener parties—though the UK shows some signs of polarisation.

It’s been a busy few months at Social Change Lab. This edition of the newsletter brings you our latest media appearances, updates on our research into protest impact, and a sneak peek at what’s coming next — from ballot box effects to the wetlands of Sweden. Plus, find out how you can contribute to our blog. 

This opinion piece originally appeared in Big Issue on 3 April 2025: Just Stop Oil are 'hanging up the hi-vis'. Even unpopular groups can

Guest post by Elizabeth Rose, climate activist, researcher, and writer, who shares insights from her research exploring public opinion on so