Newyddion

“Just think about it, next year, both the Durham Miners’ Gala and the Notting Hill Carnival will take place in seats represented by Conservative MPs” Michael Gove, December 2019. The Durham Miners’ Gala, established in 1871, is the largest annual gathering of trade unionists in the UK. Despite the last coal mine in County Durham…

Town twinning grew after the Second World War, forging new friendships between old enemies as civil society crossed borders. Today, though, post-war memory has faded, while Brexit and Eurosceptic politics sow new divisions. Here in Wales, will town twinning stay relevant – or be relegated to the past? “I can’t see a future for twinning…

In October 2019 WISERD co-hosted a collaborative workshop with the Sustainable Places Research Institute and the Wales Governance Centre to discuss the environmental and social justice considerations of food systems in Wales. The event brought together a range of experts – including policy makers, civil society activists and other stakeholders to assess the major challenges…

In September, we returned from a research exchange trip to Canada. The aim of the visit was to locate recent Civil Society project findings in an international context and develop greater insights through comparative reflection going forward. Canada, as a Federal state, develops and delivers much of its social policy at a Provincial level. This sub-state…

Following nearly a decade of austerity, local authorities face funding challenges that are having major impacts on the ways public services are delivered. Financial pressures, combined with increasing demand and expectations from the public for accessible and timely services, are having a detrimental effect on those social groups most reliant on essential facilities. In our…

The marking of someone’s lifelong academic and professional contribution is all too rare so I was delighted when the Foundation for the Sociology of Health and Illness offered to fund a celebration of the life and work of my husband and colleague, Gareth Williams. The event was directly supported by fellow medical sociologists including our…

Social Action as a Route to the Ballot Box is a project intended to determine whether schemes that promote youth volunteering can reduce age-inequalities in turnout. As previous posts have shown, it has found that such schemes can be powerful tools in improving the political representation of young people. Young people who volunteer are more…

In recent years LGBT+ rights have improved dramatically. Same-sex marriage is now legally performed and recognised in 28 countries. Equality laws protect LGBT+ people at work and increased media coverage is improving knowledge and awareness of sexual orientations. More is to be done, however, to ensure equality for all, and researchers have been looking into…

The previous post outlined the central finding of Social Action as a Route to the Ballot Box: youth volunteering increases turnout among young people by increasing their interest in political issues and so raising their motivation to vote. This effect is only apparent, however, for young people whose parents have little or no interest in…

It is recognised across many different spheres of public services, research, health and community work that working in co-production with stakeholders and the public can bring benefits to all, and produce more meaningful outcomes. While the concept of co-production is well evidenced, the difficulty lies in actually doing this work properly, as different actors bring…