News and Blog

Wylfa Workforce Redundancies: “Mind the Gap”

On May 21st 2015 Magnox announced that 1600 jobs would be lost across its 12 UK nuclear sites. This news came as no great surprise to the workforce at Wylfa on Anglesey, which has been facing decommission for the last few years. The timeline for the final decommission of the plant has stretched considerably, originally anticipated in 2012 and…

Congratulations to Paul Chaney

WISERD would like to congratulate our Co-Director Paul Chaney on his recent promotion to Professor in the 2015 round of Cardiff University promotions. Professor Chaney said he was delighted to be given a Personal Chair – and was looking forward to continuing to work with colleagues on Wiserd’s exciting research programme. Paul is Professor of Policy and…

Research, Data & Methods (WISERD) – Party Promises and Voluntarism

How does attention to the Third Sector in Parties’ 2015 Westminster Election Manifestos compare to previous post-war ballots? Compared to issues like the economy, employment, education and health, the voluntary (or “third”) sector is not a topic that is likely to swing the results of a general election. That said, party pledges on the third…

New Honorary Professor in the School of Social Sciences and WISERD

Professor W. John Morgan is a newly appointed Honorary Professor in the School of Social Sciences and will be associated with WISERD.  John is currently professor and UNESCO Chair of the Political Economy of Education, and Senior Fellow, the China Policy Institute, University of Nottingham. He was Chair of the Board of the United Kingdom…

‘Report: Foundation Phase is improving standards – but not closing poverty gap’

Welsh Government have published the final report of a three-year independent evaluation of the Foundation Phase, undertaken by researchers from the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data and Methods (WISERD); led by Professor Chris Taylor. The report received substantial local media coverage, which can be found by following the links below. Wales Online…

Major evaluation finds Foundation Phase is delivering real improvements

The Welsh Government’s flagship Foundation Phase has led to overall improvements in pupil’s educational achievements, their well being and their engagement in learning according to  new research published today. The findings follow a three year programme of independent evaluation, commissioned by the Welsh Government and undertaken by researchers at Cardiff University and the Wales Institute…

Economic Austerity and Older Volunteers

In recent years the political, economic and social climate in which volunteering by older adults occurs has changed significantly, with the onset of an economic downturn, concern about pensions, a change in the public policy context for volunteering following a change of government, and the abolition of default retirement age. The notion of ‘unretirement’ is…