News and Blog

A new paper in the Journal of Rural Studies reports on research from the ERC Global-Rural project led by CWPS-WISERD to examine the industrial transformation of a village in eastern China in the context of globalization. Co-authored by CWPS-WISERD Co-Director Professor Michael Woods with former CWPS-WISERD post-doc Dr Francesa Fois (now at Salford University), Professor…

CWPS-WISERD Co-Director will discuss how to strengthen democracy in Wales at a high-profile media conference this week. ‘Citizens’ Voices, People’s News: Making the Media Work for Wales’ takes place at the Institute of Welsh Affairs in Cardiff on Thursday 17 November, and features keynote speeches from Welsh Government Deputy Minister for Arts and Sport, Dawn…

A prototype website has been developed by WISERD researchers based at the GIS Research Centre at the University of South Wales (USW) which examines access to key services in Wales. This is part of an ongoing research programme investigating geographical access to services in Wales. The website allows users to see indicators of accessibility to…

Three Aberystwyth University academics have written chapters in a new book that celebrates Professor Colin Williams’ contribution to the field of language policy and planning. Language, Policy and Territory contains 18 chapters by Williams’ former students, colleagues and collaborators. These include Professor Rhys Jones, Dr Huw Lewis and Dr Elin Royles, who are based at…

A recent paper by Professor Gary Higgs, Dr Andrew Price and Dr Mitchel Langford of WISERD and the GIS Research Centre published in the Journal of Rural Studies has highlighted the need to consider the transport options available to access services for those dependent on public transport. By drawing on a spatial analysis of the…

A new, open access journal article on measuring accessibility to banking services by Dr Mitchel Langford, Andrew Price and Professor Gary Higgs from the University of South Wales, has been published in the ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information. The article demonstrates how accessibility can be measured to bank branches by different times of day and…

On 4 July It was reported on the Welsh news website Nation-Cymru, that Anas Sarwar, the leader of the Labour Party in Scotland, and a member of the Scottish Parliament, has called for a new Senate of the Nations and Regions to replace the House of Lords. Speaking to the Fabian Society at Westminster, Anas…

The Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit together highlighted many of the challenges facing rural Wales, from poor accessibility to services and youth out-migration to the over-concentration of tourism and reliance on European export markets. At the same time, as Wales navigates the post-pandemic recovery and designs post-Brexit policies and programmes, there are opportunities to approach problems…

The persistence of inequalities between regions despite over three decades of interventions under the EU Cohesion Policy is a wicked problem for Europe and there is growing appetite to rethink approaches. Over the last six years, WISERD at Aberystwyth University has been leading a major project, IMAJINE (Integrative mechanisms for addressing spatial justice and territorial…

Today (25th May), the Department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) released its latest figures for trade union membership. The long-term downward trend in union membership in the UK is well known.  Based on union records, trade union membership within the UK peaked in 1979 at approximately 13.2 million. Since then, there has been…