News and Blog

Government evaluation of a scheme developed to reduce carbon emissions was debated at the National Assembly for Wales on Wednesday 4th October 2017. The proposal draws on the work of Martin Burgess, a WISERD researcher at the Behavioural Insights Research Centre located in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences at Aberystwyth University. Sponsored by…

We often think about what young people can expect to gain from university, or what universities contribute to society. But it’s not often that we talk about how higher education can change society beyond the shaping of individuals. As tuition fees rise, and universities are cast in increasingly intense competition for students and staff, their…

Cardiff Confucius Institute welcomed Honorary Professor and Leverhulme Emeritus Professor W. John Morgan and Professor of Education at University of Nottingham, Qing Gu, to introduce their new book, theHandbook of Education in China. The launch event was well attended by Cardiff University staff and students representing a range of academic schools, demonstrating the wide interest…

Findings from the WISERD Civil Society project, ‘Territoriality and Third Sector Engagement in Policy-making and Welfare Provision’, were recently presented to two of China’s leading institutions. WISERD Co-Director, Professor Paul Chaney, gave a presentation to the leading Chinese Government Research body, the Beijing-based Institute of Economic Reform. He outlined research findings on the impact of…

As the debates and scrutiny of the EU Withdrawal Bill continue, Aberystwyth University is hosting a conference tomorrow (21 September) on the implications of Brexit for language policy. The event is organised and sponsored by the Language, Culture and Identity Research Network of the Wales Institute for Social and Economic Research, Data and Methods (WISERD)…

Work from WISERD’s Civil Society Research Programme featured prominently at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) Annual Conference in Nottingham, September 7-8. The WISERD stand (pictured) did brisk business with high levels of interest from conference-goers. Dr David Dalimore (WISERD, Bangor University) gave a paper on ‘Place, Belonging and the Determinants of Volunteering’. This presented…

Having previously looked at the different types of GCSE courses and how they are assessed, in the third and final blog of this series, Dr Rhian Barrance outlines recent research on tiering and considers how fair it is for different groups of students.   Tiering has been used for GCSEs since they were introduced in 1986. Currently, for…

Earlier this week we looked at the recent reforms to GCSEs across England, Northern Ireland and Wales and considered students’ views on linear and modular courses. In the second part of this series exploring students’ perspectives on the fairness of GCSEs, Dr Rhian Barrance considers whether internal assessment should be used alongside exams. The question of how…

Across England, Northern Ireland and Wales, many 16-year-olds are awaiting the release of their GCSE results tomorrow. This year, for the first time, students in England will receive results for some subjects using the new (9-1) grading system, while students in Northern Ireland and Wales will continue to have their papers graded using the existing…