News and Blog

WISERD Annual Conference 2024

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)…

What a ‘right to disconnect’ from work could look like in the UK

The UK’s new government has promised to take action to “promote a positive work-life balance for all workers”, and to prevent homes “turning into 24/7 offices”. The risk of “always on” working has grown since the pandemic, with technology meaning that work is often within easy reach. Legislation allowing workers to disconnect from work has been increasingly adopted around Europe, in…

Teachers’ job quality is poorer in state schools than in private schools

New study shows 60% of state school teachers always come home from work exhausted, compared to 37% of teachers at ‘top’ private schools State school teachers more likely to be working at ‘very high speed’ with less autonomy State schools have lost over 15,000 teachers to private schools since 2014 State school teachers in England…

Professor Alan Felstead’s Skills and Employment Survey covered in The Times

Comments from WISERD Co-Director, Professor Alan Felstead of Cardiff University, about his research on the Skills and Employment Survey, feature in journalist Harry Wallop’s Times column after he recently took the survey. (The Times, p35, 03/05/24; The Times, 03/05/24)   Further reading: Listening to employees’ ideas could solve UK’s productivity slowdown, The Conversation Getting the…

The past in the present: Reflections on coal mining and the miners’ strike 1984-85

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…

PrOPEL Hub hackathons help managers take action to improve job quality

In February 2024, WISERD co-directors, Professor Alan Felstead and Rhys Davies hosted hackathons in Sheffield and Belfast for human resource managers interested in improving job quality for their teams. Organised by the PrOPEL Hub and attended by nearly 100 managers from a range of private, public and third sector businesses, including government departments, social care…

ITV coverage of the 1984-85 miners’ strike

Following our recent event, ‘The past in the present: Reflections on coal mining and the miners’ strike 1984-85’ we were featured on a special ITV Wales programme, which aired on Monday 4 March and looked at how the events of 1984-85 continue to shape Wales’ economy, people, politics and communities. The coverage featured one of…

WISERD presents civil society research to policymakers in Brussels

On 25 January, WISERD and Welsh Higher Education Brussels (WHEB) hosted a workshop for policymakers in Brussels and made a case for civil society research being put at the heart of plans for the European Union. Later this year, members of the European Council will meet to agree the Strategic Agenda for the European Union…