News and Blog

WISERD research presented to Welsh Government Minister

Sarah Murphy MS, the Welsh Government Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing recently visited sbarc|spark to gather the latest research insights. WISERD researchers presented findings on how parents of neurodivergent children experience the school exclusion process and how we can use administrative data to improve education outcomes for children with additional learning needs. Excluded Lives…

WISERD researchers contribute to new book exploring union renewal

Trade unions across the globe face a range of disruptions that are destabilising traditional structures, practices and strategies. A new book, Experimenting for Union Renewal, which includes a chapter by WISERD researchers on the international garment sector, sets out a novel approach centred on experimentation in response to these disruptions. Drawing on in-depth analysis of…

Disability@Work invited to present evidence to the Welsh Parliament

Drawing on their written evidence submissions Professors Melanie Jones and Victoria Wass gave oral evidence to the Equality and Social Justice Committee on the barriers to employment for disabled people. During the discussion they highlighted the recommendations in the Disability Employment Charter, called for monitoring and analysis of broader measures of disability inequality in the…

7th Foundational Economy Conference

The 7th Foundational Economy Conference, entitled ‘Making things work: social innovation for liveability’ was held at sbarcIspark on the 10th and 11th of September 2024. It brought together researchers and practitioners in themed sessions that explored foundational issues and interventions from Wales, the rest of the UK and all across Europe. Our challenge is making…

Alan Felstead interviewed on BBC News about the ‘right to disconnect’

The UK’s new government has promised to take action to prevent homes ‘turning into 24/7 offices’.  The risk of ‘always on’ working has grown since the pandemic with the boundaries of home and work blurred for many more working people. Around a quarter of workers, for example, now report working some of the time at…

Welsh Higher Education Brussels hosts WISERD on study visit

In June, Welsh Higher Education Brussels (WHEB) hosted a group of early and mid-career researchers from WISERD, as part of their work in supporting researcher networking for future funding bids to Horizon Europe and other funding programmes. The group, from Aberystwyth University, Bangor University, Cardiff University and Swansea University, had meetings with key European organisations,…

New online tool matching voters with their ideal political party

During the General Election campaign, there was a deluge of political information, leaving many confused about which best fits their views. To tackle this issue, a project co-led by Swansea University and sponsored by WISERD created a new online voting tool. WhoGetsMyVote allows voters to match their positions on key policy issues to those of…

WISERD Annual Conference 2024

On the 3rd and 4th July, we held our WISERD Annual Conference 2024 at the University of South Wales and welcomed over 140 delegates from across the UK and beyond. Over 100 excellent posters and presentations come together under this year’s theme of ‘Aspiring to achieve a fairer society’. Professor Martin Steggall, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research)…