News and Blog

A wealth of social science research expertise has helped Cardiff become the UK’s first UNICEF Child Friendly City (CFC). The prestigious status has been awarded to the city in recognition of the steps Cardiff Council and its partners, including Cardiff University, have taken over the past five years to advance the human rights of children…

New research argues Plaid Cymru downplayed its demands for Welsh independence to prioritise vote-seeking goals between 2003 and 2015, and foregrounded calling for independence after 2019, with the new party leadership spurring this shift in the dramatically changed political context of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. Demands for independence have increased across parts of…

A year into the mass vaccination programme, people who experienced homelessness in Wales had rates of Covid-19 vaccine uptake that were almost 20% points less than people of similar characteristics. The study, led by Dr. Ian Thomas, also found that the rate at which the Covid-19 vaccine was provided was slower for people with recent…

A new paper by Professor Michael Woods has been published in The Geographical Journal. The paper proposes the adoption of a spatial justice approach to understanding the multiple crises facing rural Britain and developing policy responses. It outlines the key dimensions of rural spatial justice and considers its application to analysis of challenges in the…

Our new WISERD video provides a fresh introduction to WISERD, including our research networks, collaborative projects with partners and our commitment to capacity building and training. It also gives a brief insight into some of our current research and its impact for society, and our vision for the future.   Full-length video     Teaser…

Flexible working needs to be available for all to avoid widening inequalities, a report from academics at Cardiff University concludes. The findings, from work and employment group ReWAGE, which includes one of the co-authors Professor Alan Felstead of the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data (WISERD), set out the current and potential…

A new paper by Samuel Brown at Swansea University and Melanie Jones at Cardiff University explores the extent to which the well-established ‘disability voting gap’ in the US, where disabled people are less likely to vote in elections relative to those who are not disabled, is evident in the UK. Such a voting gap has…

On the 28th and 29th of June, over 120 delegates, presenters and exhibitors gathered at Bangor University for this year’s WISERD Annual Conference. This year’s theme was ‘Civil society and governance in an age of crisis’. Colleagues from across WISERD’s five partner universities and more came together, and over the course of two busy days,…

Professor W. John Morgan’s book, on the celebrated Austrian Jewish philosopher and educator Martin Buber, Buber and Education: Dialogue as Conflict Resolution,  (with Alexandre Guilherme), Routledge, 2014, has been translated into Portuguese and published in Brazil by the PUCR University Press, Porto Allegre, with the support of the Brazilian National Commission for UNESCO. Martin Buber…

John Morgan, Honorary Professor and Leverhulme Emeritus Fellow at WISERD, based at Cardiff University has written a book review essay which has been published in the journal, Eurasian Geography and Economics. Professor Morgan says: “There is now an extensive literature on the related concepts of soft power and modernity” and this essay reviews some notable…