News and Blog

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…

WISERD Video

Our new WISERD video provides a fresh introduction to WISERD, including our research networks, collaborative projects with partners and our commitment to capacity building and training. It also gives a brief insight into some of our current research and its impact for society, and our vision for the future.   Full-length video     Teaser…

WISERD Annual Conference 2023

On the 28th and 29th of June, over 120 delegates, presenters and exhibitors gathered at Bangor University for this year’s WISERD Annual Conference. This year’s theme was ‘Civil society and governance in an age of crisis’. Colleagues from across WISERD’s five partner universities and more came together, and over the course of two busy days,…

Research grant success for academic and practitioner partnership

Dr Elizabeth Woodcock is Research Fellow on the Social Prescribing Community of Practice research project. The project is led by Dr Koen Bartels, Associate Professor at the Institute of Local Government (Inlogov), University of Birmingham. The main research partner is The Active Wellbeing Society, a Community Benefit Society established in 2017 from Birmingham City Council’s…

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…

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….

WISERD Annual Conference 2022

On the 6th and 7th of July, over 140 delegates, presenters and exhibitors from across WISERD’s five partner universities and beyond gathered at Swansea University to hold the first WISERD Annual Conference since the start of the pandemic. The theme of this year’s conference was ‘Civil society and participation: issues of equality, identity and cohesion in…

sbarc|spark launch celebrates innovation

Luminaries from the worlds of social science research, government, industry and the voluntary sector gathered to mark the arrival of sbarc|spark – Cardiff University’s Home of Innovation. Described as a ‘society’s superlab,’ the building locates the research groups and external partners that comprise SPARK – the world’s first social science research park – alongside spinouts,…