News and Blog

A new analysis has highlighted the extent to which young people in Wales experience severe disadvantage during the transition into adulthood. Researchers from the ADR Wales Housing & Homelessness research team followed roughly 61,000 young people from their 16th birthdays for up to nine years, examining records for mental ill-health, drug misuse, alcohol misuse and youth homelessness. The study…

A BBC News article published this week showcases how data collected through Llamau’s Upstream Cymru screening surveys has helped identify young people at risk of experiencing homelessness and connect them with early support, changing lives and preventing crises before they happen. Supporting this work has been a longstanding partnership between Llamau and ADR Wales. Llamau…

On Wednesday 8 and Thursday 9 July, the 16th WISERD Annual Conference took place at Cardiff University’s Bute Building, welcoming over 170 delegates. The agenda comprised over 60 paper presentations, seven flashtalks, three plenary sessions, several panels, workshops and symposia, and an exclusive film showing, all under the theme of ‘In Pursuit of Sustainable Futures’….

The WISERD Annual Conference 2026 took place at Cardiff University on Wednesday 8 and Thursday 9 July 2026. Scroll through the gallery below to see some of our favourite moments from the event.                                            …

More people in Wales favour keeping the current Senedd voting system than returning to the old one, according to a new in-depth study of May’s devolved election. Based on a survey of ten thousand people in Wales, the findings show that 35.2% of respondents prefer to keep the system of voting for parties used this…

On 15 April, colleagues from WISERD and the Cardiff Business School came together in sbarc | spark, to launch an exciting new publication for scholars and students of sociology, political science, employment studies, and business and management. The Handbook on the Sociology of Work presents an overview of current research and thinking within the sociology…

New research from the ADR Wales team based within WISERD, at Cardiff University, has uncovered important insights into how pupils in Wales make post-16 subject choices, and what drives their academic success.  Drawing on data from more than 8,000 sixth form pupils, the research examined links between GCSE attainment and AS-level (first year of A-level) subject choices and outcomes. The findings reveal that…

Groundbreaking research pioneered in Wales is transforming how childcare provision is understood and delivered across England, as new evidence shows the UK’s most detailed analysis of ‘childcare deserts’ and ‘childcare oases’ is built on methods developed by Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data (WISERD) academics. The researchers at WISERD – a collaboration…

WISERD Director, Professor Adam Hedgecoe, and WISERD affiliate, Professor Melanie Jones are among this year’s newly elected Fellows of The Learned Society of Wales. Professor Hedgecoe’s research explores the social shaping of modern biomedicine and the role that clinical genetics plays in medical decision making. He has also worked extensively on the regulation of biomedical…

ADR Wales has published the first in a series of Data Insights providing new evidence on Welsh language ability, how it is transmitted across generations and how it influences education and early career outcomes. Carried out by the ADR Wales Skills and Employability team using census and linked administrative data, the research seeks to inform key policy…