Research projects

Aim The project has these two primary aims: Promote engagement with the School Governors Reflections Resource; Ensure the sustainability of the resource over the medium term (next 12 – 24 months). We also hope the project will allow us to explore further opportunities to research how school governors in Wales can be more effectively supported…

Environmental controversies are often about knowledge and expertise as much as they are about politics, rights and life chances. The reason is that the evidence produced by the different groups involved is often part of the controversy, with disputes over what is known and not known, by whom, and with what degree of accuracy being…

New Emerging Citizenship Regimes explores five citizenship ideal types (Pandemic, Algorithmic, Liquid, Metropolitan, and Stateless) stemming from critical/radical social innovation perspective by employing fieldwork action research in six specific city-regional cases. COVID-19 has hit European citizens dramatically, not only creating a general risk-driven environment encompassing a wide array of economic vulnerabilities but also exposing them…

Led by Karel Williams at the University of Manchester and with a web site dedicated to the growing field of Foundational Scholarship and practice (https://foundationaleconomy.com/) this network has members from stakeholder organisations and academic institutions and meets regularly in Cardiff.  The network has built on ESRC IAA funding awarded to Kevin Morgan to extend the…

Overview:  This ESRC funded project aims to identify, categorise and compare scales and types of civil society involvement in youth unemployment policy between the four devolved nations of the UK. In doing so it will examine the implications of these differences for both youth unemployment provision and devolved policy arrangements. The broader aim is to…

This is a project that is being undertaken by colleagues in Cardiff Business School and WISERD in collaboration with the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC). It built on an earlier ESRC IAA Award which was completed in March 2019. The focus of our work is to improve and develop the database used by CCC to record and…

The qualitative strand of this work package explores how the circulation of ideas, arguments and discourses within local civil society has contributed to the rise of populism and polarisation of politics in Britain and the United States, and what part civil society can play in addressing social and political polarisation. We are examining the relationship…

Patronage, elites and power relations explores systems of patronage within civil society and the connections between civil society, civic stratification and elite formation. It considers the origins and destinations of patrons in civil society organisations and institutions, as well as the significance of different educational institutions and occupational profiles in affording privileged access to elite…

This work-package is an international study of civil society, trust and human rights in mixed economies of welfare. It seeks to understand the issues, progress and challenges facing CSOs as they deliver – and shape – welfare and press for the advancement of human rights. It has three components: UK Research 1. A Critical Examination…

This project utilises comparative case studies in the UK and Australia to explore how new, technologically-enabled transnational repertoires of social mobilisation contribute to the shifting dynamics of civic stratification in the age of uncertainty. It will interrogate the relationship between the state, the market, individuals and civil society in the politics of the energy transition….

Shifting forms of governance and the grassroots politics of separatism will undertake comparative case studies in regions where separatist movements are in flux, to understand perceptions of and engagement in separatist conflicts from the bottom-up. Start date provided is that of the WISERD Civil Society Centre. Work packages will have their own individual start and…

Trade unions, grass roots activism and solidarity uses case studies from Europe, India and the UK, to examine forms of worker representation that are directly related to the changing role of women in work and society, and associated issues of civic gain and expansion. Start date provided is that of the WISERD Civil Society Centre….

Foundational economy, citizenship and new forms of common ownership explores place-based solutions and experiments with social mechanisms and new institutional forms that provide the material basis for citizenship. It looks at how Foundational Economy approaches can promote civic gain and address contemporary social and economic policy concerns at regional and local levels, focusing on food,…

Borders, boundary mechanisms and migration examines factors shaping civil society engagement with migration and forms of bordering through comparative international case studies and place-based ethnographies, and explores how social boundary activation mechanisms are articulated by civil society groups. Start date provided is that of the WISERD Civil Society Centre. Work packages will have their own…

Civil society, and place-based strategies for sustainable development undertakes regional policy studies in Wales, UK and Europe and action research in specific foundational sectors. Drawing on place-based social innovation approaches, it considers to what extent regional growth policies focus on foundational sectors and address inclusive growth through social innovation. Start date provided is that of…

New arenas for civic expansion: humans, animals, and Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) involves cross-national qualitative research to explore what factors shape individualism, and human and nonhuman relations in civil society, with reference to animal rights and welfare, and A.I. Start date provided is that of the WISERD Civil Society Centre. Work packages will have their own…

Machines, platforms and capabilities utilises mixed methods to examine the significance of different sectors of the gig economy within local labour markets, and includes the study of co-operative alternatives to more dominant forms of platform capitalism. Start date provided is that of the WISERD Civil Society Centre. Work packages will have their own individual start…

Children and young people’s rights: formal and informal constructions of citizenship utilises an international comparison of the civic expansion of children’s rights in four Western countries (including Wales), and how this can rebalance the civic deficits associated with childhood. Start date provided is that of the WISERD Civil Society Centre. Work packages will have their…

Identity and civic divides in the UK examines the relationship between different forms of identity (disability, sexuality, religion) and political participation and wellbeing. It explores whether identity groups experience differential abilities to exercise rights, and possible explanations for any differences. Start date provided is that of the WISERD Civil Society Centre. Work packages will have…