News and Blog

At the recent WISERD Annual Conference, I gave a seminar with partners from civil society on school exclusion in Wales. The seminar explored the role of civil society in school exclusion and how families experience it. Below, I have included a summary of each presentation and a key takeaway for improving policy or practice. Excluded…

Drawing on their written evidence submissions Professors Melanie Jones and Victoria Wass gave oral evidence to the Equality and Social Justice Committee on the barriers to employment for disabled people. During the discussion they highlighted the recommendations in the Disability Employment Charter, called for monitoring and analysis of broader measures of disability inequality in the…

The 7th Foundational Economy Conference, entitled ‘Making things work: social innovation for liveability’ was held at sbarcIspark on the 10th and 11th of September 2024. It brought together researchers and practitioners in themed sessions that explored foundational issues and interventions from Wales, the rest of the UK and all across Europe. Our challenge is making…

On the 3rd and 4th July, we held our WISERD Annual Conference 2024 at the University of South Wales and welcomed over 140 delegates from across the UK and beyond. Over 100 excellent posters and presentations come together under this year’s theme of ‘Aspiring to achieve a fairer society’. Professor Martin Steggall, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research)…

On the 3rd and 4th July, we held our WISERD Annual Conference 2024 at the University of South Wales. Here are just some of the photographs taken throughout the event by Michael Hall.

On 2nd March 2024, the 40th anniversary of the coal miners’ strike was marked with a WISERD conference at Cardiff University’s Bute Building, attended by campaigners, trade unionists, researchers and filmmakers. The conference began with a showing of the film, Breaking Point, made and introduced by the acclaimed Swedish director, Kjell-Åke Andersson. The film was made…

First Minister Mark Drakeford’s government’s decision making during the pandemic was under scrutiny last month at the Covid-19 Inquiry in Cardiff. This newly published paper highlights the failures of state decision making in exacerbating older people’s health and social care conditions, which before the COVID-19 pandemic already put them at risk of harm and indignity….

On 30 November, Professor Mitch Langford, a WISERD co-director based at the University of South Wales (USW), presented WISERD research from the ESRC-funded project, ‘Inequalities, civic loss and well-being’, to the Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee at the Senedd. The Senedd’s Areas of Research Interest (ARI) event comprised a series of speed talks made…

Earlier this year, the IDEAL team performed The Bridge, a new one-act opera about the experience of living with dementia. One audience member wrote that the opera was “excellent, thought-provoking and needs to be broadcast further.” The IDEAL team have recently launched the film of the English language performance. Watch The Bridge As part of…

A recently published paper by Dr Andrew Price and Professors Gary Higgs and Mitchel Langford at the University of South Wales has drawn attention to geographical variations in access to warm spaces in Wales. Warm spaces provide an opportunity to help households try to minimise the impact of rising energy bills in the winter months…