Wednesday 25th November saw the launch of ‘Making the Case for the Social Sciences: Wales’ at the Pierhead Building in Cardiff.
“Making the Case for the Social Sciences: Wales” is the tenth in a series of publicationsproduced by the Academy of Social Sciences and its Campaign for Social Science in order to celebrate the real and important impact made by social science research.
Issue 10 showcases research carried out here in Wales. Across a wide range of disciplines and topics, social scientists tackle the real problems facing society. Using high-quality social scientific methods to investigate these issues researchers then find practical ways of helping society move forward.
The booklet contains a ‘taster selection’ of case studies of social science research that have already had a significant impact on policy and/or practice and has been prepared in collaboration with two of Wales’ leading social science research centres: the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data and Methods (WISERD) and the Research Institute for Applied Social Sciences (RIASS)
Among the topics covered in the publication are: public opinion and Welsh devolution; preventing teenagers taking up smoking; enhancing the capacity to act and democratic accountability of parish, town and community councils; and human rights of children and young people in Wales.
The Minister for Health and Social Services, Mark Drakeford, AM, introduced the event, followed by a video introduction from Minister for Business and Budget, Jane Hutt, AM. Presentations were given by several leading Wales-based social scientist, including: Professor Fiona Brookman, Deputy Director of the Centre for Criminology, University of South Wales; Professors Roger Scully and Richard Wyn Jones from Cardiff University’s Wales Governance Centre; and Professors David Blackaby and Phil Murphy of the Labour Economics Section, University of Swansea.
A Storify of our favourite tweets from the event can be found here.
A blog about the event will follow shortly, but first here are some of our favourite photos from the event.
Ceridwen Roberts, OBE, chairs the event
Minister for Health and Social Services, Mark Drakeford, AM, gives the welcome address
Event sponsor Professor Ian Rees Jones, Director of WISERD
Event sponsor Professor Judith Phillips, Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor and Director of RIASS, Swansea University
Professor Roger Scully from the Wales Governance Centre, Cardiff University spoke about his team’s research into public opinion and Welsh devolution
Professor Fiona Brookman, Director of the Centre for Criminology, University of South Wales, discusses her research into helping improve homicide investigations.
Professor David Blackaby, Co-Director at WISERD, based at Swansea University, spoke about his team’s research into improving the evidence base for policy in the areas of unemployment and public sector pay
Q&A discussion involving Professors Richard Wyn Jones, Roger Scully, Fiona Brookman, and David Blackaby
Madeleine Barrows, Assistant Director at the Academy of Social Sciences, speaks to Made in Cardiff TV
Professor Roger Scully speaks to Made in Cardiff TV