News and Blog

ADR Wales has been awarded almost £26million to continue its ground-breaking work using administrative data to inform public policy and improve lives across Wales. The funding will run from 2026-2031 and was officially announced today by the Rt Hon Mark Drakeford MS during his address to delegates at the ADR UK Conference in Cardiff. Following…

UKRI Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has awarded more than £1m to a research team from Swansea and Aberystwyth universities to lead the Welsh Election Study 2026 (WES 2026), a four-year project that will provide high-quality, impartial survey data on political attitudes and voting behaviour in Wales. The collaboration brings together Professor Matt Wall…

On the 30 June and 1 July, the 15th WISERD Annual Conference took place at Aberystwyth University, welcoming over 130 delegates. The agenda comprised 14 paper sessions, two panels, and three symposia and workshops under the theme of ‘Participation and partnership in a time of precarity and polarisation’. For the first time, this year’s agenda…

From 8 to 11 July 2025, the WISERD Politics and Governance Research Network held a four-day Quantitative Methods Bootcamp at Swansea University. This intensive course was led by Dr Kevin Fahey, Assistant Professor in Politics at Nottingham University and included lectures, practical demonstrations, hands-on practice and group work. Its aim was to provide essential training…

The WISERD Annual Conference 2025 took place at Aberystwyth University on Monday 30 June and Tuesday 1 July. Scroll through the gallery below to see some of our favourite moments from the event.        

We are delighted to announce that the keynote speaker for the WISERD Annual Conference 2025 is Professor Irene Hardill from Northumbria University. Professor Hardill’s keynote address will explore how the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the crucial role of civil society and charities in addressing inequality and unmet needs. It will also explore research examining voluntary action…

We are pleased to announce that the website for booking your free tickets for the WISERD Annual Conference 2025 is now LIVE! The conference is taking place on Monday 30 June – Tuesday 1 July at Aberystwyth University. Book here: WISERD Annual Conference | Prifysgol Aberystwyth University Please select the ticket option ‘2025 Attendees’ –…

Research explores how communities can work together to bring about positive change. Academics will investigate how citizens, civil society organisations and policymakers are collaborating to tackle some of society’s most pressing problems. WISERD has secured £1.6m of funding from the UKRI Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) for the three-year research programme, ‘People, Places, and…

The monograph, Cultural Cold Wars and UNESCO in the Twentieth Century, by W. John Morgan, Leverhulme Emeritus Fellow at WISERD, Cardiff University, and Professor Emeritus at the University of Nottingham, has been nominated for the 2025 Wayne S. Vucinich Book Prize in the United States. Established in 1983, the Wayne S. Vucinich Book Prize is…

On 13 May 2025, Dr Sophie Bartlett, an ADR Wales research associate based at WISERD, at Cardiff University, presented education research at ‘Science and the Senedd’, the Royal Society of Chemistry’s 20th annual event held at the Senedd and the Pierhead in Cardiff Bay. The event was sponsored by the Deputy Presiding Officer of the…