News and Blog

Response to Covid-19 in Wales may have helped limit infection among people experiencing homelessness

Researchers associated with WISERD working at the Administrative Data Research Centre Wales have been looking at coronavirus infection rates among people experiencing homelessness in Wales. Their research was in response to concerns from the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic of possible high rates of infection, hospitalisation, and death amongst homeless populations. Experiencing homelessness potentially means…

Understanding Geographical Variation in Union membership: a patchwork quilt or a regional divide?

Today (25th May), the Department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) released its latest figures for trade union membership. The long-term downward trend in union membership in the UK is well known.  Based on union records, trade union membership within the UK peaked in 1979 at approximately 13.2 million. Since then, there has been…

New research reveals civil society perspectives on LGBT+ rights violations in Caribbean Community countries

As part of the project Trust, human rights and civil society within mixed economies of welfare in WISERD’s civil society research programme, I’ve been analysing the human rights situation of LGBT+ people in Caribbean Community countries – alternatively known as CARICOM. Founded in 1973, it is an organisation of fifteen states and dependencies designed to…

‘Sustain our Common Humanity’

Professor John Morgan makes the plea ‘Sustain our Common Humanity’ in his latest addition to international journal, Weiterbildung. The article considers examples of idealism and realism in international intellectual cooperation and educational exchange. Professor John Morgan will also give a presentation on this subject, on 7th June 2022, as part of the WISERD online seminar…

Dr Igor Calzada awarded Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence

Dr Igor Calzada has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence (SIR) at California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB) for the 2022-2023 academic year by the U.S. Department of State and coordinated by US-UK Fulbright Commission. The Fulbright SIR Program review committee convened by IIE’s Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES) and Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board (FFSB)…

Social policy, law and civil society: Examining the European Union response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis

This latest blog post in WISERD’S series on the Ukraine crisis examines the response of the European Union. Specifically, it explores the legal and social policy response and the role of civil society. The Russian invasion of Ukraine that began on 24th February has created one of the most serious humanitarian crises in Europe’s post-war…

Deprived areas hit hardest by changes in access to bus services during the pandemic

Public transport was severely impacted during COVID-19 as people’s daily mobility patterns changed. This led to a substantial drop in demand as many workers were instructed to work from home and social distancing measures were introduced on existing services. Department for Transport statistics show a decline from 91 to 26 million passenger journeys on local…

I Remember Mariupol: A civil society destroyed

I remember Mariupol. I visited the Russian-speaking port of around 500,000 people in the summer of 1983. It was then Zhdanov, a city of the Soviet Union on the Sea of Azov, adjacent to the Black Sea. Named, as were many Soviet cities and towns, after a prominent Communist: Andrei Zhdanov, a close associate of…

Examining the Welsh third sector response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis

This latest blog post in WISERD’S series on the Ukraine crisis examines what we know so far about the response of the third sector in Wales. The prevailing Welsh policy framework and emerging actions of the third sector matter – foremost for the welfare of Ukrainian refugees arriving in Wales – and allied to this,…