About SocietyInside

About SocietyInside

SocietyInside is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee. We aim to use research and communications tools to empower individuals and politicians to ensure the UK economy serves the public interest and not, as it so often seems, solely the interests of companies and shareholders.

Whilst the specific issues or ethical dilemmas may change from industry to industry what remain a constant are the problems caused by business models which create value for companies and shareholders leaving individuals and society to suffer the harms and bear the costs.

About Hilary

Hilary spent the first 10 years of her career in mainstream communications in London and New York, promoting dog food, washing powder and food products. In 1996, a dissatisfaction with the ethics of this work, led her to apply to be Head of Communications for The Tomorrow’s Company Inquiry at the Royal Society of Arts, which focused on changing the shareholder value model of business to one which takes social and environmental issues seriously, alongside the economic.

This inspirational project was the catalyst for her next 20 years work promoting the issues of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) which evolved to be known as ‘Responsible Research and Innovation’ and ‘Environmental and social governance (ESG) in a variety of sectors. Her focus gradually shifted from mainstream sectors to innovation in new and emerging technologies such as AI, data and digital responsibility, neurotechnologies, synthetic biology & gene editing, industrial biotech, nanotech and advanced materials, quantum tech, robotics, food irradiation, high-tech food innovation and vapes.

In 2017, motivated by her and others’ singular lack of success in persuading the business community to take its responsibilities to society seriously, she shifted focus to changing the balance of power in policy and regulation from a business centric model to one which puts trust and the public interest ahead of corporate interests and empowers and involves citizens directly in regulation and policy.

In 2023 she initiated and co-leads the Addiction Economy project which aims to understand what political and social systems are failing when harmful industries flourish, and what it then takes to put the public interest first in policy and regulation. This initiative brings together her skill in synthesising complex issues, a relentless focus on the public interest, and her strong communications skills honed in the commercial consumer sector.

Her unusual cross-sectoral perspective has lead to opportunities to work with some of the most innovative thinkers in these diverse areas, including the World Economic Forum, presenting at the Annual Meeting at Davos, the UN, the OECD, the European Commission, European Brain Council, the Committee for the Economic Development of Australia, the AI Asia Pacific Institute and the UK Royal Society. She was co-chair of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Values, Ethics & Innovation, a member of its Agile Governance Council, its Human Rights Council and its Nanotechnology Global Agenda Council. She is also on the advisory board of the Carnegie Council on AI and Equality, a member of the Cambridge Centre for Science Policy Network of Experts and involved in various government and academic working groups and advisory boards. In 2010 she was asked by the European Commission to write a primer for Responsible Research and Innovation as a basis of understanding for the development of their Horizon research programme. She was named was one of the ‘100 brilliant women in AI Ethics’ in 2019 and 2021 by the California-based LightHouse Network.

About Joe

Joe is the co-lead of the Addiction Economy project, which was inspired by his research on vapes and the addictive effects of social media on young people.   He will lead our work on vaping, social media and computer games particularly for young people and drive the innovative communications and the public engagement aspects of the Addiction Economy project.

He created a short film ‘The Vaping Dilemma’ showing how The Addiction Economy works.  It was inspired by the groundbreaking film ‘The Social Dilemma’ which exposes the business model and attention maximising techniques of social media.  In The Vaping Dilemma he explores the addictive techniques and business model of companies marketing vapes to young adults, aiming to equip them with more information about how vaping became so popular and why.   

Joe was also chosen by Sense About Science to ask a question on Vaping to MP’s as part of their Evidence Week, generating significant interest among MPs in SocietyInside’s work.   He then presented to his MP Helen Hayes on vaping and young people, who referred to him and his work as ‘her constituent’ in the Houses of Parliament in a speech on vapes. 

He was also invited to present a ‘lightening talk’ on AI and The Addiction Economy to the Royal Society of Arts AI group of which he is a member.

He has a Master’s degree in Science Communication from UCL and a BA in Geography from Newcastle University where his dissertation focused on exploring with young people why they don’t change their behaviour when they find out about the addictive effects of social media.

Our partners

Qualitative and Quantitative Research - Caitlin Connors and the team at Bright Harbour Collective

Bright Harbour are an innovative research collective who have a unique perspective and approach to research in some of the most complex and challenging areas. Recent projects including Food Security Under Covid-19 - Qualitative research with people struggling with food insecurity in the early months of pandemic to inform policy and public support and Co-Designing Youth Money Advice - Participatory co-design of a pilot youth money advice service in Northern Ireland. Young people shaped content, strategy and delivery.

Graphic design, publications, and media design - Richard Dickinson and the team at Effusion Design

The team at Effusion create strong and beautiful designs which provide clarity and impact. We use them for our own work and even where a client had an in-house design team of their own they have chosen to work with us and Effusion to deliver joint projects because of their thoughtful approach to distilling complex subjects into compelling publications and graphics.

SocietyInside Funding

SocietyInside is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee. As a start-up (then called MATTER) we were grateful to the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation for providing start-up funding and the funding of our project on Responsible Innovation and Food.

Other projects have received funding from various sources, including the Irish Health Service Executive (Earning public trust in healthcare), the Fraunhofer Group of Applied Science Research Insitutes (Trust and Governance), Arizona State University (Trust, Soft Law and AI), ECNL - the European Centre for Not For Profit Law (Frameworks for Meaningful Stakeholder Involvement in Regulation and in the design and deliver of products and services using A!), the UK government’s ScienceWise, (Nano&me), businesses (Building Confidence stakeholder project), H2020 projects (Resagora & Future Foods and others) and research tenders or partnerships with various groups, including the European Commission, the LifeSciences Knowledge Transfer Network, CEFIC Long Range Research Institute, University of Michigan, University of Sheffield and Forum for the Future.

We also receive honoraria and fees for speaking engagements and the design and facilitation of workshops, seminars and conferences.

If you would like to discuss the funding of new research, or contribute funds to the ongoing research and development of SocietyInside, please contact Hilary on +44 (0) 7799 625064 or email hilary@societyinside.com