News and Blog

Foundational economy presentation at UK2070 Commission event

  Professor Kevin Morgan from the School of Geography and Planning at Cardiff University presented research on the Foundational Economy at the UK2070 Commission: Wales Stakeholder Event, which took place at the Cardiff Business School this week. The UK2070 Commission is an independent inquiry into city and regional inequalities in the UK. Chaired by Lord…

WISERD presents at Hay Festival 2019

On Tuesday 28th May, Dr Jean Jenkins presented her research on employment rights at one of the world’s best-known literature festivals. Her talk, ‘Fashion – an Industry of Gross Exploitation’ explored the history of an industry that was long ago described as a ‘parasite industry’ as a result of the shocking mistreatment of its workers….

How youth volunteering increases young voter turnout: the impact on citizenship

The previous post outlined the central finding of Social Action as a Route to the Ballot Box: youth volunteering increases turnout among young people by increasing their interest in political issues and so raising their motivation to vote. This effect is only apparent, however, for young people whose parents have little or no interest in…

WISERD at Co-Production Network for Wales Conference

The WISERD exhibition stand attracted much interest at the Co-production Network for Wales annual conference in Wrexham today. All in this Together: A Celebration of Co-production and Involvement in Wales provided key networking opportunities to connect our work with third and public sector organisations. The aim of the day was to explore co-production of policy…

Creating space for co-production

It is recognised across many different spheres of public services, research, health and community work that working in co-production with stakeholders and the public can bring benefits to all, and produce more meaningful outcomes. While the concept of co-production is well evidenced, the difficulty lies in actually doing this work properly, as different actors bring…

Social action IS a route to the ballot box – but only for a minority of young people

As previous posts in this series have shown, one of the major challenges facing British democracy is the declining tendency of successive generations of young citizens to vote, leaving them under-represented in policy-making and potentially raising questions about the legitimacy of our democratic institutions in the future, as this low turnout becomes a lifelong habit….

Welsh Policy and Politics in Unprecedented Times

  Austerity, the further devolution of powers, and issues such as an ageing population, climate change, and Brexit are all important conditions and events leading to uncertainty, instability and an unprecedented situation in Welsh policy and politics. These issues affect how and why policy is made and services are delivered. Held in partnership with the…

How well is Wales monitoring its fulfilment of the Convention on the Rights of the Child? A view from Dr Rhian Barrance and Sally Holland, Children’s Commissioner for Wales

Sally Holland, the Children’s Commissioner for Wales and Dr Rhian Barrance, WISERD Research Associate, discuss how Wales has gone further than any other UK country in implementing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) by introducing the Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure in 2011. This requires that ministers…

Why are primary school children in Wales so worried about tests?

WISERD recently conducted a survey of almost 10,000 children aged between 7 and 18 years-old in Wales for the Children’s Commissioner for Wales. The aim of the survey was to identify the most significant issues facing children in Wales in order to guide the Commissioner’s 3 year workplan for children and young people. The 11-18…