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Where do creative ideas come from? Are we having too many meetings and not enough conversations? Even as some workplaces reopen, we are still a long way ‘business as usual’. Around 60% of us would prefer to continue working from home. Many employers are downsizing or even closing their offices. And rather than meeting face to face, platforms like Zoom, Teams or Slack have become the new normal. Dr Chris Bilton explores the limits of digital culture and how we can make space for chance encounters and keep creativity alive.

What are the wider consequences of the crisis for innovation in UK firms? Will these positive collaborations inspire broader innovation in the economy or will the financial pressures on firms have a more negative effect? How will this affect smaller and larger firms? Professor Stephen Roper examines some of the ways in which the pandemic is affecting innovation and organisations' spending on research and development.

In response to various requests, we decided to sit down (virtually) and attempt to define what we mean by “essential work”. We are, collectively professors of behavioural science, international business, marketing and operations. Our research spans human behaviour, international investment, labour markets, operations, supply chains, marketing, consumer behaviour and branding.

Coping with extended periods of ‘unproductive’ work, punctuated by temporary projects and contracts is the everyday reality of much creative work. In this new reality, what might the rest of us learn about the value of work and productivity from the practices of artists and creative workers?

Listen to Professor Sarah Stewart-Brown of Warwick Medical School talking to Phil Upton at the BBC about the interaction between mental health, our wellbeing, and coronavirus.