Changemaker Q&A

A recent Changing Times podcast conversation examined a problem increasingly described in public health and social policy as a “loneliness” or “social connection” crisis: the erosion of everyday, face-to-face relationships and the difficulty many adults report in forming and sustaining friendships after early adulthood. In the episode, the guest, Gabor, positioned repeated relocation and work-driven […]

Across the social change sector, people are often motivated by strong values, moral clarity, and a deep commitment to justice. These commitments are not incidental. They are foundational to why people enter activism, development, policy, humanitarian work, or systems change in the first place. Yet one of the most confronting realities of this work is

Across contemporary workplaces, leadership cultures, and social movements, there remains a persistent assumption that confidence, influence, and effectiveness are best expressed through extroversion. Loud voices, rapid responses, constant networking, and high visibility are frequently rewarded, while quieter forms of contribution are often overlooked. Yet this bias obscures the significant strengths that introverted individuals bring to

Business is often discussed as though it were a neutral tool—an economic mechanism that can be directed toward good or ill depending on the intentions of those who control it. In contemporary debates about social change, business is increasingly positioned as a solution to complex social and ecological crises, particularly in contexts where governments appear

In the contemporary United States, access to abortion is shaped not only by clinical availability but by geography, logistics, and legal risk. Following major legal shifts that have allowed individual states to severely restrict abortion, increasing numbers of people are required to travel across state borders to access reproductive healthcare. Travel has therefore become a

Across climate breakdown, democratic erosion, deepening inequality, and institutional distrust, changemakers are operating in conditions of heightened urgency and complexity. In these contexts, values are often treated as peripheral—reduced to aspirational statements that sit alongside strategy documents rather than actively shaping practice. Yet it is precisely under pressure that values matter most. They are not

What a geriatrician wants us to understand about rights-based healthcare, caregiving, and the future of ageing well. In this episode, I spoke with Dr Warren Wong, a geriatrician whose career has been shaped by two intersecting commitments: a lifelong “social mindset” grounded in the idea that healthcare is a right, and a practical dedication to

Over the past decade, mindfulness has moved from spiritual and philosophical traditions into mainstream culture. It appears in corporate wellbeing programs, productivity apps, and self-care routines, often framed as a tool for stress reduction and individual resilience. While these practices may offer short-term relief, they rarely question the social, political, and economic systems that generate

Innovation is routinely invoked as a cure-all in the social change and organisational strategy space. It appears in grant applications, corporate mission statements, public sector reform agendas, and community-sector roadmaps. Yet the term often functions as a placeholder rather than a practice. In this episode, Amir—an innovation practitioner based in Stockholm with experience across education,

Money is often treated as the ultimate solution to social problems. Campaigns stall without it, organisations chase it relentlessly, and many changemakers feel that without sufficient funding their work cannot move forward. Yet this assumption—that money itself is a resource—deserves closer scrutiny. When examined through systems thinking, economics, and social change theory, money looks less