Teenage delinquents or digital activists?

One of my first experiences with activism was within a school setting, when I was involved in the presenting of a petition against the dress code in 2019. It was circulated through social media as a Google Docs link and then forwarded to the headteacher. Unknown to me, this had become an increasingly frequent occurrence…

Job quality is worse for teachers who are expecting an Ofsted inspection, report finds

Teachers in England who are expecting an Ofsted inspection in the coming 12 months have worse job quality and a higher work intensity, according to a report. The study from academics at Cardiff University and University College London (UCL) also showed that the conditions for teaching professionals have barely changed since the pandemic and have,…

Welsh children’s subjective well-being during the pandemic ranks below average in international survey

In my previous Children’s Worlds project blog posts, we looked at the impact of the pandemic on Welsh children’s well-being in relation to school and whether they live in urban or rural areas of Wales. For this third and final instalment, we now turn our attention to how the overall level of subjective well-being for…

Gender pay and career progression gap widens with experience in the teaching sector in Wales

Recent analysis from ADR Wales’ researchers used administrative data to estimate career progression and pay differences among female and male teachers and school leaders in Wales. Using anonymised administrative data from the 2019 and 2020 School Workforce Annual Census (SWAC), ADR Wales education researchers found that 77% of the qualified teacher workforce was female, however: 15% of male…

Missed out: the households experiencing multiple deprivation in the least deprived areas in Wales

The Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD) is the Welsh Government’s official measure of relative (‘ranked’) deprivation for small areas in Wales. WIMD is used by government and other organisations to target services to address social disadvantage. For example, as part of their programme to increase access to higher education, the Higher Education Funding Council…

Young people posting daily social media content and in regular contact with internet-only friends could be at risk for poorer wellbeing

Dr Emily Lowthian is a lecturer at Swansea University in the Department of Education and Childhood Studies in the School of Social Sciences. Emily presented her research with Dr Rebecca Anthony, Georgia Fee at a WISERD lunchtime seminar in March. Online communication behaviours, such as social media use, are often received negatively in the mass…

Volunteers’ role in tackling community divides discussed by Commissioner

The role of voluntary organisations in tackling polarisation in local communities will be discussed by the Future Generations Commissioner in Aberystwyth next month. Aberystwyth University academics from the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data (WISERD) will jointly host a symposium with partners from the Voluntary Sector Studies Network on Wednesday 24 May…

Call for Papers: Migration Research Wales Network – Early Career Researcher and Postgraduate Symposium

Migration Research Wales Network is pleased to announce a one-day symposium for postgraduates and early-career researchers (self-defined) working on aspects of migration in Wales or based at Welsh institutions. The aim of the online symposium is to provide a supportive environment for researchers to share ideas on draft work and receive constructive comments. Each contributor…

It’s time to rethink what citizen science really is

Citizen science is a popular method of gathering data for natural and social scientists, with the number of projects and publications produced growing year by year. A typical citizen science project uses volunteers to gather data that would otherwise be unaffordable or inaccessible. But, based on the evidence we gathered during our study of a…

How far can you travel from where you live by different modes of transport? Understanding Welsh Places now shows you

It probably comes as no surprise to hear that you can travel further in less time when travelling by private transport, such as in a car, than by public transport using a bus or a train. However, have you ever wondered what this difference looks like visually for the place where you live or work?…

Congratulations Professor Mitchel Langford

Many congratulations to WISERD Co-director Mitchel Langford who has been successful in the latest Higher Academic Awards appointments Mitchel Langford has been conferred the title of Professor in Spatial Analysis and Geo-informatics at the University of South Wales. Mitch’s research interests include geographical accessibility modelling and geospatial analysis in the fields of healthcare, social inequality…

New research examines effectiveness of careers guidance and how it is prioritised

New research carried out by ADR Wales has examined the effectiveness of careers guidance in supporting participation in post compulsory education and training and how careers guidance is prioritised. The work, which was undertaken by ADR Wales researchers Dr Katy Huxley and Rhys Davies, used anonymised Careers Wales data to examine how the provision of careers support to key stage…

The ongoing impact of gender pay gap transparency legislation

Since April 2017, UK employers with over 250 employees have been required to annually report their gender pay gap to the public. The introduction of pay transparency legislation is undoubtably one of the most significant policy developments aimed at tackling the gender pay gap worldwide. The original publication comprised 10,000 organisational gender pay gaps, attracting…

Wales Housing Research Conference 2022

On December 19th, the 2022 Wales Housing Research Conference took place at Cardiff University’s Glamorgan Building, allowing delegates to come together and share research evidence relating to some of the most pressing Welsh housing issues. Co-hosted by WISERD’s Wales Housing Research Network, the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence, and Shelter Cymru, this year’s conference…

Effect of Economic Turbulence on the Experience of Work to be Investigated in Study

The experiences of workers will be investigated as part of a major survey led by Cardiff University and funded mainly by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The Skills and Employment Survey 2023 (SES2023), which also involves researchers at UCL, the Universities of Oxford and Surrey and the National Centre for Social Research, will…

20th Anniversary of the ESRC Festival of Social Science

To celebrate 20 years of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Festival of Social Science, WISERD hosted two events at this year’s Festival, which aimed to highlight one of our ongoing education research projects and a useful data tool that helps us to better understand our towns and local areas. We began with a…

Roma, Gypsy and Traveller civil society organisations: Exploring experiences and challenges in Europe today

On the 28th and 29th September, delegates from civil society organisations attended our event at Bangor University, exploring Roma, Gypsy and Traveller experiences and challenges in Europe today. Over the course of two days, this event brought together civil society organisations, academics policymakers and community members. We were very pleased to welcome two keynote speakers…

A new report provides recommendations on the better use of data to inform careers guidance in Wales

A recent report published by Welsh Government highlights the benefits and limitations of enhanced data utilisation to deliver careers services in Wales.   Welsh Government commissioned ADR Wales researchers to undertake a study to examine the policy and legislative context within which the national careers provider, Careers Wales operates, the utility of data holdings of Careers Wales and other organisations,…

The IDEAL Webinar Series 2022-2023

Led by academic partners at Exeter University, IDEAL (Improving the experience of dementia and enhancing active life: living well with dementia) is a large-scale dementia research project which began in 2014 and ends in 2023. WISERD has contributed to the IDEAL study, with the aim of understanding the reasons why particular social and psychological factors…

‘The World Turned Upside Down’ film released

Today (23rd September) marks the launch of a documentary film about dementia and communication called ‘The World Turned Upside Down’. The film comes from a large-scale dementia research project called IDEAL (Improving the experience of dementia and enhancing active life: living well with dementia), which WISERD has been involved in since its beginnings in 2014….

ROBUST: Envisioning the future for rural Wales

The Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit together highlighted many of the challenges facing rural Wales, from poor accessibility to services and youth out-migration to the over-concentration of tourism and reliance on European export markets. At the same time, as Wales navigates the post-pandemic recovery and designs post-Brexit policies and programmes, there are opportunities to approach problems…

Response to Covid-19 in Wales may have helped limit infection among people experiencing homelessness

Researchers associated with WISERD working at the Administrative Data Research Centre Wales have been looking at coronavirus infection rates among people experiencing homelessness in Wales. Their research was in response to concerns from the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic of possible high rates of infection, hospitalisation, and death amongst homeless populations. Experiencing homelessness potentially means…

Wales is having a rethink about its place in the UK – could it lead the way for everyone else?

Anwen Elias, Aberystwyth University and Matt Wall, Swansea University Can the United Kingdom survive Brexit? This remains one of the great unanswered questions of our time. Politically, two major narratives have dominated. The first is that the UK is on a break-up trajectory. Brexit has revived the Scottish independence movement and destabilised Northern Irish politics. Clashes between UK and…