News and Blog

We have long become accustomed to the concerns expressed in the letter pages of local newspapers or on various online forums from those members of the public forced (if fortunate to have access to a car) to drive greater distances, or to make alternative and more costly arrangements, to access services such as health, educational,…

As Wales seeks to navigate a safe path out of the coronavirus lockdown, one of the biggest challenges for the Welsh Government is how to re-open the rural economy whilst avoiding a surge of new cases in the countryside and panicking an anxious rural population. First Minister Mark Drakeford has signaled that restrictions on the…

      This report provides an overview of our research activity in 2019 – a year that has marked the end of one chapter and the beginning of another, and has strengthened WISERD’s position as an important national research centre. Read more about our latest income profile, the work we’re doing to strengthen our…

New research by WISERD Co-Director, Professor Paul Chaney and Dr Sarbeswar Sahoo (Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi) analyses civil society organisations’ (CSOs’) perspectives on religious freedom violations in Bangladesh. These have been recently thrown into stark relief following the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 2011 that confirmed Islam as the State religion of the…

WISERD Director, Professor Sally Power, has won the Learned Society of Wales’ Hugh Owen Medal 2020 for her outstanding educational research. Professor Power is a leading education researcher, with a broad focus on policy and inequality. She plays a significant role in supporting education research throughout Wales. The WISERD Education Multi-Cohort Study (WMCS), directed by…

Empty supermarket shelves have been a scary symptom of the COVID-19 crisis. From daily staples to sneaky snacks, we’re running low. Those shelves reveal something we don’t normally need to think about: here in Wales, our dinners depend on imported food, supply chains, and distribution networks. Could panic at the shops have been averted if…

The COVID-19 virus is changing the way we live our lives, and our society and economy is having to adapt. From the closure of schools and the changes to assessment to the role of civil society and the effects on workers, our research can help to make sense of some of these changes. In the…

New research by WISERD Co-Director, Professor Paul Chaney, analyses civil society organisations’ (CSOs’)  perspectives on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Over the past decade, the majority of CIS countries have finally ratified the CRPD, offering new rights for the region’s…

The Equality Act Regulations 2017 required all firms with over 250 employees in the UK to publish their gender pay gap (GPG) annually. This paved the way for employers to focus on causes of and solutions to gender-related wage discrimination. Mandatory GPG reporting was designed to be the first step in helping firms identify their…

This week, Dr Nigel Newton presented findings from our ‘Successful Futures for All’ project to members of the Children, Young People and Education Committee of the National Assembly for Wales. The project explores the way the new curriculum is being developed in Pioneer Schools and the potential impact on children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Curriculum for…