News and Blog

Roma civil society organisations in Europe: Navigating uncertainty in times of Brexit and COVID-19

Although European leaders have committed to creating more inclusive societies through the recently adopted 2020-2030 EU Roma Strategic Framework (October 2020), civil society organisations (CSOs) challenging Roma exclusion are facing a series of new uncertainties: the withdrawal of the UK from the EU (Brexit) and the COVID-19 pandemic. Across Europe, the exclusion of Roma is…

New civil society research confirms children’s human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories

New research by WISERD Co-director Professor Paul Chaney examines civil society perspectives on children’s rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The study confirms widespread violations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Since 1967 Israel has occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In 1980, Israel officially annexed East Jerusalem…

Is there a geography of volunteering in Wales?

In Wales as elsewhere, the role of volunteers has been brought to the fore during the COVID-19 pandemic as people offered their services to help address the needs of vulnerable groups within their communities. Concerns surrounding the sustainability of such volunteering efforts have drawn attention to the types of infrastructure that could help facilitate and…

Is anyone ‘too small’ to make a difference?

During the recent G7 summit in St Ives, hundreds of protesters gathered to participate in demonstrations and activities about environmental issues. One of the most prominent images in media reports of these protests is of two children on the beach, with a colourful sign reading ‘no one is too small to make a difference’. The…

WISERD Summer Series 2021

Due to Covid-19 restrictions in place at the time, the WISERD Summer Series comprised four online events in place of our usual Annual Conference. These events explored some of WISERD’s established and developing research areas and saw the launch of two new research networks – the Migration Research Wales Network and the Well-being Network. To…

New book on Civil Society and Citizenship in India and Bangladesh

A new book entitled ‘Civil Society and Citizenship in India and Bangladesh’ by WISERD Co-director Professor Paul Chaney and Dr Sarbeswar Sahoo of the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, presents multidisciplinary research exploring the opportunities and challenges facing civil society in today’s India and Bangladesh. It informs contemporary understanding of citizenship, gender rights and social identities…

WISERD PhD Poster Competition 2021

We are delighted to announce the winner of our annual WISERD PhD Poster Competition 2021. Muhao Du from Cardiff University has won the prize for his poster – ‘Finding Harmony in Hardship: experiences of expatriates in subsidiaries of Chinese MNCs in the high technology sector’. Emma Reardon from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David…

New Research on Adult Social Care during the Pandemic Presented at International Conference

  WISERD Co-director Professor Paul Chaney has presented new findings on adult social care delivery during the pandemic at “Transnational and Transdisciplinary Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic – An International Symposium”. The conference was organised by Hong Kong Baptist University’s Department of Government and International Studies in association with the David C. Lam Institute for East-West…

WISERD and Future Economies Book Launch

  On the 19th of May, WISERD and the Future Economies University Research Centre based at Manchester Metropolitan University, held an online event to launch two books: City Regions and Devolution in the UK and The Political Economy of Industrial Strategy in the UK. The event featured discussion from the authors, alongside commentary from an…

Tackling air quality monitoring with a citizen science group

Popular conceptions of science as ‘objective’ and ‘neutral’ suggest it sits outside the problems of rights and justice that often characterise the discourse around civil society. Developments in social science and community activism since at least the 1960s – eg, the Love Canal scandal in the US – show that this view is deeply flawed….