News and Blog

New Website for WISERD Civil Society Project: Trade Union Membership, Associational Life and Wellbeing

Today WISERD launches its new webpages related to the research programme on trade unions within the WISERD Civil Society Centre: www.wiserd.ac.uk/unions ‘Declining levels of trade union membership is often cited as evidence that trade unions have become less relevant within the modern UK economy.  However, previous WISERD research into geographical variations in trade union membership…

What’s devolution got to do with it? Youth (dis)engagement in the run-up to the EU referendum

With the dust settling on the devolved election results last week and showing a 3% increase in turnout in Wales, now is a good time to explore the links between devolution and political engagement, particularly among young people, and ask what can we learn from this in the run-up to the EU referendum? In terms…

WISERD Foundation Phase Practitioner Conference

A one-day practitioner conference is to take place on Monday 23rd May to discuss the recommendations from WISERD’s evaluation and the implications these have for the future of the Foundation Phase.  Cardiff University and WISERD were commissioned by the Welsh Government to undertake an independent three-year evaluation of the Foundation Phase. ‘The final report for…

New International Research from WISERD: Civil Society Perspectives on Gender Equality in Post-Conflict States

New International Research from WISERD published in the journal World Development* presents civil society perspectives on gender equality in post-conflict states. This comparative study by Professor Paul Chaney examined developments in twelve-countries including:  Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Georgia, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Rwanda. The findings reveal the specific data and governance challenges that exist in war-affected states as…

Schooling and the rights of young people in Wales

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is intended to address the political, civil, economic, social and cultural rights of children everywhere in the world. In 1989, this Convention was widely adopted by governments worldwide in recognition of children’s rights and in making a political promise to acknowledge those rights in their…

WISERD Engagement – Public Seminar: Measuring trust and transparency – Exploring a mixed methods approach

On 5th May, Professor Alistair Cole and Dr Ian Stafford* delivered a public seminar at Cardiff University linked to their WISERD Civil Society research. Their insightful and well-attended presentation outlined how, against the backdrop of a perceived decline in trust in democracy and government, transparency has frequently been identified as a potential remedy to these phenomena. Using key…