Two WISERD colleagues, Professor Sally Power and Professor Mike Woods, are among the newly elected fellows of The Learned Society of Wales.
The Learned Society of Wales was established in 2010 in the absence of a national society of learning in Wales. Its aims are to contribute to advancing and promoting excellence in all scholarly disciplines, which includes providing independent and expert advice to Government.
Election to Fellowship is a public recognition of academic excellence, following a rigorous examination of academics’ achievements in their relevant fields. Those from the arts, humanities, sciences and public service sectors are all recognised, bringing together 460 of the most prominent figures in Welsh academia.
Professor Sally Power is Director of WISERD Education – a programme of research for Wales, which has recently been awarded £215,000 of funding from Cardiff University for a continuation of the WISERD Education Multi-Cohort Study, a project that has already involved more than 1,200 pupils in over 30 schools around Wales.
Professor Power also edits the British Educational Research Journal and her own research interests focus on the relationship between education and inequality. Some of Professor Power’s recent work includes a study into the impact of social media on young people’s lives, including sleep disruption, tiredness at school and pupils’ overall wellbeing.
Professor Mike Woods is WISERD Co-Director and Professor of Transformative Social Sciences at Aberystwyth University. Professor Woods is part of the team leading the WISERD Centre for Welsh Politics and Society at Aberystwyth University. The centre undertakes world-leading research on contemporary political, social and economic issues of relevance to Wales, drawing on multi-disciplinary perspectives to advance social science knowledge, lead international research agendas and inform public policy and debate in Wales.
Professor Woods has also recently been involved in a successful European Horizon 2020 funding bid for a project about spatial injustice and territorial inequalities. The project, entitled ‘Integrative Mechanisms for Addressing Spatial Justice and Territorial Inequalities in Europe (IMAJINE)’ started earlier this year.