News and Blog

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,…

Student talent network to be expanded after WISERD review

The Welsh Government have announced plans to expand their pilot network for high achieving school pupils. WISERD and ADRC-Wales researchers Rhys Davies and Dr Suhaer Yunus contributed to the OB3 Research evaluation of the Seren Network, which helps Wales’ brightest sixth formers gain access to top universities across the world. The report found that the…

£17m funding for collaborative data research in Wales

An initiative that has transformed how de-identified administrative data can be securely used to provide insight into social and economic issues in Wales is set to continue thanks to an investment of almost £17 million. Administrative Data Research Wales (ADR Wales) has been awarded £16,985,944 until 2026 as part of the £90 million UK wide Administrative Data…

WISERD Annual Conference 2022 – Call for Papers

We are delighted to announce that the call for papers is now OPEN for the WISERD Annual Conference 2022. WISERD Annual Conference 2022 Swansea University   Wednesday 6th and Thursday 7th July 2022 The theme for our Annual Conference is ‘Civil society and participation: issues of equality, identity and cohesion in a changing social landscape’….