Publications

Globalization is a major driver of change in contemporary rural areas, involving the multiplication, stretching, and intensification of social, economic, political, and cultural relations over space. Processes such as the integration of the global economy, increased flows of international migration, and a growing global consciousness and standardization of values impact on rural areas affected by…

Regulation, the process of regulating or being regulated, is a geographical concern. Contra the thought processes of neoclassical economics and the assumptions of equilibrium and optimality, everything else is neither equal nor without hands. The economy, for instance, is not an unmediated outcome of universal and transhistorical processes operating across a featureless and stateless isotropic…

Regions have been central to geography, and the discipline of geography can be traced through the different ways in which “the region” has been interpreted. Geographers have talked about traditional regional geography, the new regional geography, and the new regionalism. The current “new new regional geography” debate centers on whether regions can be seen as…

The purpose of this study was to provide quantified evidence to show the extent of both non-completion among post-16 learners attending Sixth Form and of the movement of these learners from Sixth Form to the Further Education (FE) sector. It provides quantified evidence showing the extent of non-completion among post-16 learners attending Sixth Form. It…

This chapter explores theoretical insights into the rhetoric of decentralist discourses and the geographical complexities and contradictions of local state remaking on the ground. It argues that by attempting to link economic and social policy in local contexts, the Government’s new localism is profound and needs to be more fully theorised in undertaking geographical political…

Homelessness prevention has become the dominant policy paradigm for homelessness services across the developed world. However, services have emerged in a piecemeal and selective manner, often restricted to particular towns and cities, with no requirement on local authorities to intervene. Wales is the first country where the government has sought to fully reorient services towards…

The purpose of this study was to better understand how teachers in Wales differ from their counterparts in England in regard to their engagement with educational research. In 2010, the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) conducted a study of over 4,000 teachers in England. Many of the questions referred to their engagement in forms…

This report presents the findings of a survey on the research activity, experience and needs of staff working in the field of education in Wales. Since democratic devolution in 1999, the Welsh Government has developed an ambitious and distinctive reform agenda, which needs to be underpinned by a strong evidence base and the capacity to…

This paper draws on literature from the sociology of expectations to explore accounts of experts in cancer research and clinical practice. The cancer specialists’ accounts presented in this article are taken from interviews undertaken as part of a project that aimed to develop a research agenda for the next ten to thirty years that will…

The article explores E.M. Forster’s story The Machine Stops (1909) as an example of dystopian literature and its possible associations with the use of technology and with today’s cyber culture. Dystopian societies are often characterized by dehumanization and Forster’s novel raises questions about how we live in time and space; and how we establish relationships with the…