News and Blog

WISERD 2014 Annual Conference

Wales’ largest social science conference is taking place at Aberystwyth University this week. Now in its fifth year, the WISERD Annual Conference brings together practitioners, policy makers and social scientists to discuss and debate themes such as health; social care; wellbeing; education; culture & values; environment; labour markets; devolution; and civil society. Established as an…

WISERD at the Workers Educational Association Conference

Dr Stephen Drinkwater gave a presentation Workers Educational Association in Llanelli to celebrate their centenary. On Saturday 7th June, Dr Drinkwater delivered a presentation focusing on recent and possible future economic and demographic developments in the Llanelli area.   The event, held at the Furnace Theatre, was well attended with guests including the Mayor and…

WISERD Project to feature on BBC Coast programme

BBC Coast presenter ‘stress tested’ by WISERD biomapping project. This week the WISERD funded biomapping research project (led by Dr Jon Anderson (CPLAN) and Professor Chris Taylor) ‘stress-tested’ the BBC presenter Nicholas Crane for the forthcoming series of the popular television programme ‘Coast‘. The research project uses ‘qsensor’ technology to quantify the affect of the built,…

WISERD Lecturer on BBC Radio Cymru

Dr Robin Mann discusses patterns of migration to Wales on BBC Radio Cymru. Dr Robin Mann, Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences and WISERD at Bangor University, took part in the BBC Radio Cymru programme Taro’r Post, to discuss migration to Wales. Dr Mann was asked to comment on new Office for National Statistics…

Latest WISERD blog posts

Read the latest posts from WISERD and WISERD Education blogs. WISERD Co-Director, Professor Howard Davis, writes about the reaction to recent European Parliament elections: Civil society and participation: reactions to the European Parliament elections By Professor Howard Davis, WISERD Co-Director. The recent European Parliament elections grabbed the headlines across Europe as some remarkable results were announced….

Paid Internship for Doctoral Candidates with the Welsh Government

This is an exciting opportunity for a doctoral student in the social sciences to have a four month paid internship (£17,200 per annum pro rata) and gain valuable experience in the use of evidence for strategy development. Project Brief As part of the Welsh Government’s plans for developing future strategy for the NHS in Wales,…

Minister comments on first ‘Evaluating the Foundation Phase’ reports

Minister for Education & Skills, Huw Lewis, comments on the release of the first WISERD reports for Welsh Government. A series of reports into the Welsh Government’s flagship early years education programme the Foundation Phase have been warmly welcomed by Education and Skills Minister Huw Lewis. The Foundation Phase for children aged 3-7 places emphasis…

Welsh Government publish WISERD report on poverty

Download WISERD report for Welsh Government by Rhys Davies and Huw Lloyd Williams. The Welsh Government published a report last week on: The dynamics of low income.  The report considers the extent to which individuals move in and out of poverty, the characteristics of those who remain in poverty and the types of events that can…

Professor Chris Taylor leads on evaluation of Welsh Government pilot

A new research project, evaluating the Foundation Phase Flexibility Pilots, is underway with Professor Chris Taylor as lead researcher. In line with the Welsh Government’s commitment to Early Years development, the Foundation Phase is the statutory curriculum for all 3 to 7 year old children in Wales in both maintained and non-maintained settings. The Foundation…

Minister for Health and Social Services to give University seminar on ‘Prudent Healthcare’

Mark Drakeford AM, Minister for Health and Social Services, will visit Swansea University on Tuesday, April 15, to speak on the topic of “Prudent Healthcare: what can the NHS learn from social care?”. The Minister has been invited to give the first public lecture in a new seminar series, which has been jointly organised by Swansea…