Time Inheritance Mapping: Discover How Time Shapes Your Choices

Time Inheritance Mapping: Discover How Time Shapes Your Choices

Time Inheritance Mapping: Discover How Time Shapes Your Choices is an interactive online workshop designed for sixth formers, university students, early-career professionals, and the educators and advisors who support them in navigating complex decisions about education and work.

Whether choosing a university, pursuing an apprenticeship, changing jobs, or taking time out, these decisions are shaped by many pressures—financial constraints, family expectations, geographic limitations, and personal interests. One factor that’s rarely considered is time: how much of it we have, how we’ve inherited it, and how it shapes our choices.

This workshop introduces the concept of time inheritance—a fresh and overlooked lens that bridges personal reflection and institutional insight. It begins with a short 2–3 minute animated video, followed by a 15-minute TED-talk-style presentation that draws on research and vivid real-life examples of how students from different backgrounds make life-shaping decisions. The heart of the event is a time inheritance mapping exercise, using a pre-designed worksheet to help participants reflect on their own time resources and develop an action plan with two practical takeaways—tools to support their next steps, whether choosing a university, exploring career options, or rethinking priorities.

The session concludes with a whole-group discussion, where participants are invited (if comfortable) to share their reflections and digital time inheritance maps. The event will be hosted on Zoom, and materials will be shared during the session to support participation.

This event is sponsored by and part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2025.