Research projects

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…

A WISERD research team comprising Professor Paul Chaney, Dr Christala Sophocleous and Professor Daniel Wincott has worked with Wales Council for Voluntary Organisations (WCVA) and The National Library of Wales to create a historically significant digital archive of the Annual Reports of WCVA and its predecessor organisations. We are delighted to make this resource publicly and freely…

Excluded Lives is a multi-disciplinary project across the four jurisdictions of the UK led by the Department of Education at the University of Oxford and in partnership with the universities of Oxford, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Queen’s Belfast, and the LSE. The overarching aim of this project is to provide a comprehensive and multi-disciplinary view of the…

Inequalities, civic loss and well-being uses innovative methods, including app-based surveys of spatial mobility and data linkages, to compare place-based and individual measures of accessibility, and explore how changing patterns of civic loss and gain relate to measures of health and well-being. Start date provided is that of the WISERD Civil Society Centre. Work packages…

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…

Led by Professor Paul Chaney, this international project links with Professor Nasir Uddin of the University of Chittagong, a leading international scholar on the Rohingyas. This new collaboration aligns with the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) call for new research on promoting human rights, good governance and social justice. By focusing on the recurrent Rohingya…

  Overview Understanding Welsh Places is a website that aims to be the first point of call for statistical information about towns and communities in Wales. A significant proportion of people in Wales live in towns and small communities. Too often, however, such places are overlooked by public policy. While targeted funding exists for city regions and rural…

Administrative Data Research UK The ESRC, as part of UKRI, are funding an important new investment in research infrastructure to maximise the potential of administrative data as a resource for high-quality research in the UK – Administrative Data Research UK (ADR UK).  ADR UK  aims to engage government and academic communities in innovative research to address…

This project examines the benefits of volunteering for the political engagement of young people in the UK. Voting is the single most common and important form of political participation in a democracy, and yet today’s young voters have an unprecedented reluctance to turn up at the ballot box. What’s more is that this decline of…

The WISERD Politics and Governance Research Network is a multidisciplinary network which brings together scholars who conduct and publish research that centres on Welsh politics and governance, from across the five WISERD partner universities. The Network is jointly led by Dr Matthew Wall and Dr Bettina Petersohn from Swansea University’s Department of Political and Cultural Studies. Network…

This is an international research project funded by the ESRC under the remit of the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF). It is a collaboration between researchers at Cardiff Business School and WISERD and our partners at Cividep-India. The research is distinctive in being a longitudinal, workplace-centred study of access to remedy at the grass roots…

The research investigates workplace the grievances of garment workers employed in factories in the city of Bangalore, south India. Specifically it examines access to remedy at the workplace, and seeks to illuminate local conditions against the backdrop of national and international forms of regulation.

WISERD researchers, Melanie Jones and Esgi Kaya have evaluated the size of the gender pay gap within UK public sector occupations such as teaching and nursing after they successfully secured a research grant from the Office of Manpower Economics (OME). The research has informed the work of the independent public sector pay review bodies. They used large…