Learning Lessons NEWS from WISERD: Wales Institute of Social & Economic the significance of Research, Data & Methods research collaboration

WISERD Conference 2012 ICT usage within Wales WISERD Mini-Projects Page 4 Page 7 Page 10

Issue 5 March 2012 Learning Lessons from WISERD: the significance of research collaboration

At the end of March 2012, WISERD reaches a major mile-stone in its that similar successes will be achieved by development, as its initial period of core funding from the ESRC and some of the grant applications that are currently pending with the ESRC and other HEFCW draws to a close. When WISERD was established at the end Research Councils. of 2008, one of its key targets was that it should be financially sustainable by the end of the first core funding period. It is also clear that wider collaborations have significantly improved the architecture of social science research in At that time, of course, the funding of university-based research for some years Wales and beyond. WISERD’s investment in research in higher education, and more to come. Nevertheless, WISERD has a knowledge exchange activities, especially widely, was substantially easier than it is viable future for at least the medium term, with the Welsh Government, but now. Nevertheless, WISERD has achieved albeit one in which even greater priority increasingly with local government and the its key sustainability target, largely through than hitherto will need to be attached to third sector too, will provide new extensive external funding from project securing external funding. opportunities for social scientists to exploit grants and the support of the five Saint the potential of their research for David’s Day Group (SDDG) universities. Alongside this planning for the future, a economic and social impact. For example, Currently, the finishing touches are being great deal of energy is being devoted to the the organisation of joint ‘evidence made to a Development Strategy for process of reporting WISERD’s activities up symposia’ has already offered an WISERD over the three years from 2012 until now to the funders of the initial core innovative avenue for researchers to until 2015; and further details of this will grant, the ESRC and HEFCW (the Final influence key areas of Welsh Government be provided in a future issue of WISERD Report is to be submitted by the end of policy; and the increasing availability of News. It is clear that general financial June 2012). In truth, the principal difficulty ESRC funding for such activity will stringencies will continue to affect here is choosing what to prioritise from continue to be crucial here. In this context, amongst the enormous range of activities some of WISERD’s Thematic Networks and outputs that WISERD has generated. have also created new spaces in which In this context, one of the things that academic researchers have been able to seems extremely important is to learn the interact with researchers in other types of lessons which the first few years of setting and with policy-makers and WISERD’s development provide. professional practitioners.

Here, the cornerstone of the analysis that Important progress is also being made in led to WISERD’s creation – the necessity of respect of the availability of and access to effective research collaboration in the economic and social data about Wales, social sciences – has been borne out. This much of which in a comparative context. is reflected not only in the outputs from It is too early yet to be thinking in terms of WISERD’s initial research programme, a National Data Strategy for Wales. but also in the opportunities for However, advances are being made in successful research grant capture terms of data integration (both of that pooling the strengths of social administrative data with ESRC-funded science research across the SDDG cohort studies and of different types of universities has provided. Most administrative data); and in terms of easier notably, perhaps, the award of access to data of different kinds (through, some £1 million by the Welsh for example, the WISERD Geo-Portal). Government to evaluate the WISERD will continue to play an integral Foundation Phase exemplifies role in these developments, which will this. WISERD’s bid was undoubtedly be of considerable benefit to successful, in the face of stiff social science researchers in the future. competition from across the UK; and it is one of the largest grants to be competitively awarded to Welsh universities by the Welsh Government (or its antecedents) for this sort of research. This collaborative bid also provided a basis to draw in distinguished researchers from outside of Wales to work with the Professor Gareth Rees research team. It is to be hoped WISERD Director 2 Increasing the research capacity of social care in Wales

With the identification of a need Funded by the National Institute for Social working in conjunction with the WISERD to increase research capacity of Care and Health Research (NISCHR), the TCB team and local partners to develop a three-year project will work in partnership training website. social care in Wales and for across Bangor, Cardiff and Swansea greater collaboration between Universities to strengthen social care R&D The website will include a suite of Welsh academia, social services in Wales. e-learning resources that can be accessed by trainees both as a means of distance and policy makers; a new project The research team comprises learning and also as a resource to assist in will create an All Wales Dr Catherine Robinson, Professor Andy specialist courses that may assume some Academic Social Care Research Pithouse and Professor Judith Philips who brief attendance at WISERD for one or two will lead the regional teams in Bangor, day courses. Collaboration (ASCC). Cardiff and Swansea respectively. The appointed RDF will carry out a The three regional teams will contribute mapping exercise to identify training needs to the following work framework: of social care workers in South Wales to • Development and exploitation of create a bespoke research training national datasets (Bangor) strategy. This strategy will then be piloted • Increasing capacity and research and evaluated locally before being rolled skills in the workforce (Cardiff) out on a regional and then national level. • Promotion of evidence based practice (Swansea) Finally, the third model based at Swansea will take forward the building of the Each regional team will pilot and evaluate research-practice interface in social a different model over the three-year care and social work. This initiative will period, aiming to identify and establish be piloted in relation to adult services effective approaches to increasing the and rolled out at a local level before quantity and quality of social care R&D in being evaluated for national and wider Wales. application. It will link specifically with the Older People and Ageing Network (OPAN) The first model will be led by Bangor at Swansea and with initiatives developing University in collaboration with Glynd wˆr around Cardiff and Bangor Universities in University and the Wales Council for relation to social care capacity building and Voluntary Action (WCVA) and echoes part consequently will be linked through of the WISERD agenda for developing WISERD as well as the new Doctoral capacity in quantitative methods and Training Centre in Wales. secondary analysis of existing datasets. The aim of the initiative will be to develop The second model will develop a WISERD capacity from within practice settings e-learning initiative to raise the research through encouraging doctoral studies by skills of service providers across Wales. practitioners/managers and developing a A Research Development Fellow (RDF) ’Making Research Count’ style approach in funded by NISCHR and based and Wales through a dissemination and supervised at WISERD Cardiff will implementation role and an income develop the e-learning project, generation function.

For more information about the project please visit: www.wiserd.ac.uk/research/ wiserd-projects-current/

3 WISERD Conference 2012 “Devolution, Place and Change”

The WISERD Conference has become one of the most important Keynote Speakers events in the social science calendar for people concerned about social and economic issues in Wales today. The Rt. Hon. Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas AM On the 28th and 29th of March 2012 at ‘Ffin a Frontier’ ‘Sut mae deddfu dros Bangor University , the third annual WISERD Conference will bring together Poetry Evening gynaliadwyedd / How to social science researchers, postgraduate legislate for sustainability?’ students and public sector representatives The conference will be launched with a from across Wales and beyond to provide a poetry reading by two well-known poets – (This speech will be delivered in Welsh forum to explore a wide range of topical Menna Elfyn and Zoe Skoulding – who will with simultaneous translation) themes that impact society in the context be presenting some of their latest work in of devolution, place and change. Welsh and in English. This special event Dafydd Elis-Thomas is currently AM for takes place on the evening of March 27th Dwyfor Meirionnydd and was Presiding Set in breathtaking landscape at the foot of at the Terrace Lounge and is open to Officer of the National Assembly for Wales the Snowdonia National Park and everyone. since its first opening in 1999 until 2011. overlooking the Menai Straits, Bangor He is President of Bangor University where University is ideally situated to offer an Menna Elfyn is an award-winning poet and he was formerly a student and lecturer. inspirational backdrop to the WISERD playwright who writes with passion on the Conference this year. Welsh language and identity. She is the Lord Elis-Thomas was an MP (Plaid best known and most translated of all Cymru) from 1974 to 1992 and became a To launch the event there will be a special modern Welsh-language poets and author member of the House of Lords in 1992. poetry reading on the eve of the conference of more than twenty books of poetry, His political interests are focused on the with renowned poets Menna Elfyn and Zoe including Aderyn Bach Mewn Llaw (1990), development of devolution in Wales, and Skoulding presenting their work under the winner of a Welsh Arts Council Prize. the status of Wales in Europe. Recently he title of ‘Ffin a Frontier’ (boundary and Menna is also Director of the Masters was appointed as Chair of the Assembly's frontier). Programme in Creative Writing at Trinity Environment and Sustainability Committee University, Carmarthen and is Literary and Plaid Cymru's spokesperson for Themes covered at the two-day conference Fellow at Swansea University. Environment and Energy. will include: Labour markets in Wales and the UK, Environment and Sustainability in Zoe Skoulding's most recent collection of Aside from his work in politics, Dafydd Wales, Health and Care, Identity and Place, poems is Remains of a Future City (Seren, Elis-Thomas has also served on the Welsh Theory and practice of devolution, Poverty 2008), which was long-listed for Wales Language Board, the British Film Institute and ethnicity, Education and Children in Book of the Year in 2009. She lectures in and the Arts Council of Wales, as well as Wales, Migration and Mobility, Crime and the School of English at Bangor University working in the private sector as a director criminology, and Citizenship and language. and is the editor of the international of an environmental surveying company. Headlining the programme of more than quarterly Poetry Wales. 57 talks and roundtable discussions are three high profile keynote speakers: the Tickets for the poetry evening cost £5.00 Rt. Hon Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas, and can be booked via the conference Professor John Curtice from the booking form. University of Strathclyde and Costa Rican politician and former presidential candidate Otton Solis .

Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas’ keynote address on how to legislate for sustainability will open the conference. WISERD Director, Professor Gareth Rees, said:” We are delighted to welcome such a well respected figure to the WISERD conference. Dafydd Elis-Thomas is one of the major figures in contemporary Welsh politics and I’m sure that his contribution will be well-informed and thought- Menna Elfyn provoking.

4 Professor John Curtice ‘Is there still a basis for a stable Union? Trends in Public Opinion in the wake of Scottish and Welsh Devolution’

Professor of Politics at University of Strathclyde, John Curtice conducts research into social and political attitudes, electoral behaviour, electoral systems and survey research methods in Scotland, Britain and comparatively. He is a frequent broadcaster and contributor to newspapers and has been a regular member of the BBC’s general and local election night programme production teams.

Otton Solis ‘Subsidising multi-national corporations: is that a development policy?’

Otton Solis is a Costa Rican politician and three times presidential candidate, economist and Eminent Scholar. He served as Minister of Planning and Economy and founded the Citizens’ Action Party, a third- party movement that emphasises social equity and environmental issues. The Citizens’ Action Party is currently the main opposition party in Costa Rica.

The conference will close with director’s address by Professor Gareth Rees who will discuss the current state and future directions of research and higher education in Wales.

For any enquiries regarding the conference programme or booking arrangements, please contact Cheryl Buchanan via email [email protected] or call 029 208 75345.

Alternatively you can visit the dedicated conference mini-site at www.wiserd.ac.uk/ conference2012

5 Professor Andreas Hoff visits WISERD at Bangor

Professor Andreas Hoff visited During his time at Bangor, Professor Hoff gave a talk in the School of Social Sciences WISERD at Bangor University seminar series in which he presented his for two weeks during international research project, September 2011. Professor ‘Carers@Work – Between Job and Care: Conflict or Opportunity?’, which is funded Hoff is a social gerontologist at by the Volkswagen Foundation. In addition, Zittau-Gorlitz University of Andreas coordinated a workshop to staff Applied Sciences, Germany, and and students on the SHARE (Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe) was formerly a senior research data set and was also involved in several fellow at the Oxford Institute of informal meetings on ageing research with Ageing, University of Oxford. He staff across the University. is also currently the Vice- As an internationally recognised expert in Present of Research Committee population ageing and intergenerational 11 (Sociology of Ageing) of the relationships, Andreas was particularly interested in furthering the understanding International Sociological of how these issues are shaping the Association (ISA) and the Chair reproduction of Welsh speaking of RC11 Scientific Programme communities – his University in Gorlitz also being located within the Sorbian minority Committee for both the ISA language community close to the German- World Congress of Sociology Polish border. To this end, Andreas will be Professor Andreas Hoff and World Forum. continuing to work with Dr Robin Mann and other WISERD associates on a comparative study of intergenerational transmissions within the Sorbian and Welsh speaking families. We fully expect that his visit will be the first of many to come as this collaboration unfolds.

6 Interdisciplinary team explore ICT use and digital exclusion within Wales

In early February 2011 the The scoping study was completed in Arts and Humanities Research October 2011 and confirmed many of the key arguments identified within broader Council (AHRC) funded UK and European-wide debates around academics within Swansea digital divides – notably that ICTs provide a University, Cardiff University potentially key resource in promoting community connectivity in contemporary and the University of society in Wales but many minority undertaken by the Welsh Government communities or vulnerable groups Glamorgan to develop a provides solid foundations to further continue to be at significant risk of both collaborative, interdisciplinary explore these research areas within a social and digital exclusion. scoping study as part of its UK and Welsh context. To this end the research team is planning on submitting The study’s final report highlighted that wider Connected Communities an expanded research project in 2012. programme. there appears to be clear anecdotal evidence to suggest that minority communities and vulnerable groups within For more information on the The primary aim of the scoping study was Wales require bespoke policies in order to project and to download the to gain an understanding of the impact of fully take advantage of information and project reports, visit: Information and Communication communication technologies and to Technologies (ICTs) on changing cultures enhance their experiential inclusion and www.wiserd.ac.uk/research/ and patterns of connectivity within and connectivity. However, the report argued connected-communities/cc/ between minority communities and that existing, primarily quantitative vulnerable groups and the potential of research generally fails to adequately multifaceted digital divides in constraining explore these issues and tends to provide or shaping these forms of connectivity in high level data for the population as a Wales. In addition, built into the research whole - providing limited insights into the design were a number of specific experiences and issues faced by minority objectives, for example, identifying communities and groups. In addition, potential gaps within existing research, discussions with key stakeholders understanding policy responses to these suggested that there was a great deal of issues across the UK and enhancing ‘grey data’ focused on this issue but the existing engagement between study highlighted the challenges in stakeholders and researchers within identifying and securing access to this data. Wales. Therefore the study recommended that The research team led by Dr Panayiota there was a clear rationale for developing Tsatsou (Swansea) and made-up of Dr Ian more qualitative, fine grained, community- Stafford (Cardiff), Professor Gary Higgs, based research in order to explore the Dr Robert Berry and Dr Richard Fry potential barriers to digital inclusion and (Glamorgan) carried out a range activities the impact of digital inclusion/exclusion in developing the scoping study. These within minority and vulnerable groups. activities included a literature review of The scoping study and recent review work existing research on the role of ICTs in communities and digital divides, a systematic analysis of existing research and data within Welsh and UK contexts and a series of stakeholder workshops which brought together academics, Welsh Government officials and stakeholders from across the private, public and third sectors.

7 WISERD supports national Festival of Social Science

Dr Sin Yi Cheung, Senior In the break-out sessions, students WISERD were pleased to compared their own results with national support two events as part of Lecturer at the Cardiff and international data on happiness, Welsh the annual Festival of Social School of Social Sciences language and identities. They learned how to compute the ‘happiness index’ and Science run by the Economic (SOCSI), successfully interpret statistics by studying maps and and Social Research secured funding from the tabulations. They also learned how to be a Council (ESRC). ESRC to run the event. Here, critical consumer of statistics, the importance of random sampling, the limits she recalls her memories of generalisations and the merits of The week-long festival from the day. disaggregation in data analysis. Lunch was (29 October – 5 November), a highlight of the day. Many participants found it particularly enjoyable mixing with Talk of numbers with school teachers, now in its ninth year, our colleagues and asking what social most immediately think of their MAT (more celebrates some of the scientists actually do. able and talented) students who can ‘do country’s leading social maths’, but where does the social science After lunch, students re-convened to bit come in? On Wednesday 2nd November, science research, report their results from the workshop in our ESRC Festival of Social Science showcasing the valuable exercises. The chance of ‘lucky dips’ in the event ‘Who are we? From local to global goody bag certainly helped boost their work of the UK’s social citizen’, we took on the challenge to show confidence in answering questions in what some 70 Key Stage 4 pupils from five local scientists and demonstrates might seem an intimidating big lecture schools how to ‘do’ social science with how their work has an impact theatre. The slide show of photos taken numbers. The five participating schools during the morning sessions justly on all our lives. included three from Cardiff: Cathays, achieved a ‘wow’ effect. Mark Drakeford, Cantonian and Mary Immaculate and two Cardiff West AM, as well as Professor of from the Valleys: Mountain Ash and Both events took place on Social Policy at SOCSI, presented at the Ferndale. Wednesday 2nd November, final plenary session. He spoke about how quantitative social science research makes Head of the Cardiff School of Social one in Cardiff and one in a real difference in peoples’ lives and how Sciences, Professor Malcolm Williams, Aberystwyth. Townsend’s work on poverty in Wales and opened the event with his welcome the Welsh Multiple Index of Deprivation speech. Three short presentations were had informed government policies and then given using the results of an online survey students completed in advance of the event. Interactive activities were built into the plenary sessions, including the well-received pink, green and blue voting cards. In the break-out sessions, students “compared their own results with national and international data on happiness 8 “ funding allocation. The day was rounded off with a presentation of certificates of attendance, which gave the students a sense of accomplishment. Ferndale School also won the prize for the highest response rate in the online survey.

So what did the 14-15 year olds make of it all? The majority (89%) said the day was enjoyable, stimulating and educational and two students wanted to become politicians by the end of the day.

Public engagement events like this are never easy, let alone with teenagers and schools. From recruitment, ethics approval, survey design, programme development, publicity and press release to liaising with different departments within the university, we had totally underestimated the huge challenges an event like this would entail.

There were lots of lessons learned and we are very happy to pass on the baton to anyone who wishes to rise to the challenge next year!

9 WISERD Mini

As part of the second phase of the public sector experience an earnings the WISERD research Welsh Speakers and advantage but this is not the case in the private sector. The differences are also programme, a series of mini- the Labour Market found to vary across areas within Wales projects were established to and are largest in the Unitary Authorities build on existing WISERD Research Team (UAs) located on the Southern Coast that Stephen Drinkwater (WISERD Swansea) include the cities of Cardiff, Swansea and research. These projects Robin Mann (WISERD Bangor) Newport. However, much of this is due to enabled further analysis of key higher levels of education of Welsh themes identified during the Previous research has indicated that there speakers. In particular, there is no longer may be a labour market advantage for a significant earnings advantage for males first phase of the WISERD speakers of minority languages. Evidence in the public sector, whilst in the Southern research programme. in support of this has been found for Welsh Coastal area a significant effect persists speakers in Wales by Drinkwater and for females after educational differences O’Leary (1997) in terms of employment and are controlled for. The projects were diverse in Henley and Jones (2005) for earnings. their areas of study and included Various explanations have been suggested The stakeholder data collected by WISERD collaborations with colleagues including educational policies and higher researchers were then used to shed attainment, increased cognitive ability, further light on the likely sources of the from different institutions, bilingual policies in the workplace, earnings premium in the public sector. In organisations and disciplines. employment shifts following economic particular, analysis of the 120 in-depth Themes covered by the mini- restructuring and better networks and interviews revealed that stakeholders view information flows (Day, 2002; Williams the ability to speak Welsh as conveying an projects included immigration, and Morris, 1999). advantage in the public sector, especially behaviour change, national in rural parts of Wales. This may be identity, boundaries and the This mini-project examined the labour particularly the case for UAs and market differences between Welsh and employment domains in which Welsh reorganisation of local non-Welsh speakers by extending the language skills have traditionally been of government in Wales. existing literature in a couple of ways. value. Firstly, a mixed-methods approach was used by combining quantitative analysis of The acquisition of Welsh via schooling Below and on the following the Annual Population Survey (APS) with was also perceived as providing an pages are updates on three of qualitative analysis of WISERD stakeholder important advantage in the Welsh data. the mini-projects from the labour market. series: Welsh Speakers and the Secondly, the research distinguished However, there were contrasting between labour market differences within Labour Market, Older People’s experiences with regards to the availability the public and private sectors. This was of Welsh speakers for filling bilingual Connected Rural Lives and initially done by comparing the earnings positions in the public sector in different Responses to Redundancy at and occupational achievements of Welsh parts of Wales. Anglesey Aluminium. speakers relative to non-Welsh speakers in both sectors using APS data, whilst also A presentation on the findings from the controlling for differences in personal and mini-project will be made at the Third socio-economic characteristics. Annual WISERD Conference in Bangor, Findings from the APS indicated that 28th-29th March 2012. Welsh speakers, particularly females, in

10 -Projects

services (financially and otherwise) is often Rural services and businesses were also Older People’s that much higher than urban centres. The valued beyond simply their function, and premise of this study, therefore, has been also for their social roles as a focal point Connected Rural to generate a clearer picture of the and physical meeting-place for what multiple interactions of older people in respondents discussed as the local Lives rural communities as a basis for a better community. Thus, the local shop, surgery understanding of the different services and post office van were regularly cast Research Team they require, desire, use and contribute to. alongside those more directly, socially- Jesse Heley (WISERD Aberystwyth) orientated activities within the village; Laura Jones (WISERD Aberystwyth) The setting for the research has been including a wide range of formally Suzie Watkin (WISERD Aberystwyth) in and around the rural village of organised groups. These included the Llanilar in Ceredigion, which is Women’s Institute, family history and Over the past few months, members of approximately six miles to the south church societies and keep-fit classes; all WISERD Aberystwyth have been of which included over 60’s as facilitators east of Aberystwyth, and the team undertaking a study which considers the and members alongside a wider cross- shifting role of older people within the carried out a series of in-depth section of the local population. wider social and economic networks interviews and focus-group activities contained within and across rural with people over the age of 60. Now at the stage of analysing and communities in mid-Wales. disseminating a rich vein of qualitative The investigations provided a detailed data, the team have presented evidence of Taking its cue from the findings of the insight into the everyday lives of older the findings at a number of events and to a stakeholder interview programme residents in Llanilar, and the manifold range of different audiences as part of the undertaken by the localities research ways in which these residents contribute to commitment to stakeholder feedback. To team, where many senior local the social fabric of the community have date, the team have taken part in a number government officers voiced concerns come to light. In particular, and perhaps of meetings of the Ceredigion County regarding their collective ability to meet most straight-forwardly, the important Council Research, Information & the health, care and wellbeing needs of economic contribution that the over 60’s Intelligence Strategic Group (RIISG), Mid Wales’ ageing population; these make to their localities has become very provided evidence to the Welsh concerns have also been articulated at a apparent; whether through their use and Government’s Rural Health time of widespread public sector spending valuation of local shops and services or the Implementation Group, and also discussed cuts and a corresponding squeeze of hiring of local trades people. Here many the data with representatives from Hywel resources. Although absolutely valid, and interviewees frame their use of these Dda and Rural Health in Wales. informed by working experience, these services in terms of social responsibility; reflections tally with wider, longstanding contributing to the viability of institutions Furthermore, the project has also spurred narratives regarding older age insofar as relied upon by the less mobile elderly, new an involvement in Older People & Ageing they have a tendency to focus on the mothers and those without transport, and Research & Development Network (OPAN). formal, and often physiological, healthcare as a source of employment for local As part of this network the team took part needs of this group to the exclusion of people. Furthermore, many respondents in the ‘Age Agenda’ conference, which other aspects of their lives. also indicated that they continued to work involved presenting their findings and in voluntary capacities and as members of taking part in workshops alongside This project set out to explore and critique such organisations as the National Trust academics, practitioners, policy makers those often homogenising narratives of and the Women’s Royal Volunteer Service, and other representatives concerned with older age which render older people as the latter of which provides an important ageing issues in Wales. At a grass roots being ‘passive’, ‘static’ and as a net burden function through providing drivers for level, they are also set to deliver a on service provision; particularly in a rural meals-on-wheels services. presentation to the Women’s Institute in context where the cost of delivering such Llanilar.

11 unemployment is associated with a high number of vacancies and vice versa. This seeming paradox may be a case for further The research identified a research.

significant category of ex-workers In conclusion, the study of available statistics revealed Anglesey’s socio- economic profile to be fairly complex: deciding to continue to live and Unemployment is low and the population is “ growing. The workforce seems to be work locally highly skilled by all-Wales standards. Yet its GVA per head, the bedrock of measuring economic performance, is the lowest in any region in the UK. There is also a paradox in terms of the relationship between unemployment and vacancies. This may partly be explained by the fact that many of the vacancies on the island The key findings based on qualitative are short term in nature and so we may be Responses to accounts with ex-workers and under estimating the true number of job stakeholders were that the majority of vacancies. However, this is an area where Redundancy at redundant workers actively seeking work further research may be of interest. appeared to have found further Anglesey Alum“inium: employment by mid 2011. There was also There is a potential eroding of human evidence of a broad spread of post- capital as ex-workers access local jobs Narratives of redundancy career pathways; while many where their highly developed skills are not locally- based ex-workers stayed local and utilised. The make-up of Anglesey’s Transition are looking for, or have found, work locally. offering is such that there seems to be a Others now travel a significant distance to structural impediment to retaining its Research Team work or have out-migrated, in some cases young talent. Hence we are witnessing a Alex Plows (WISERD Bangor) uptaking global opportunities provided by high outflow of young people, a problem Howard Davis (WISERD Bangor) AA parent company RTZ. Some took early shared of course, with many rural areas Rhys Davies (WISERD Cardiff) retirement; others started their own within Wales and the UK in general. businesses with varying degrees of The Holyhead-based Anglesey Aluminium success or failure. Many had accessed However recent months have seen a (AA) plant closed in September 2009 with training opportunities, and some had number of announcements relating to the loss of nearly 400 jobs. AA was a struggled to find work and were still potential employment opportunities for major employer providing significantly high unemployed. Anglesey. Proactively increasing the rates of pay for the area. availability and range of various support The research identified a significant systems both during and after the This small research project explored category of ex-workers deciding to redundancy process would be of benefit in individual experiences of redundancy continue to live and work locally and thus a number of ways, for example provision of understood as a “critical life event” prepared to be pragmatic and to ‘make do individual advice on benefits, investment of (Gardiner et al 2009). The research and mend’ in terms of the sorts of redundancy packages, and self- explored the impact of the closure through opportunities available to them through the employment. accounts of individuals’ narratives of local labour market. transition through redundancy. The authors (Alex Plows and Age and family ties are key factors The project combined some secondary affecting redundant workers’ expectations Huw Lloyd-Williams) would like data analysis concerning the regional and opportunities with regards to their to thank the research participants economic environment and social career pathways post- redundancy. for their input. inequalities, with qualitative data derived There is an underlying issue on Anglesey from biographical narrative interviews with relating to the quality of job opportunities ex-employees at Anglesey Aluminium and The full report will soon be and levels of remuneration. Workers had semi-structured interviews with other had access to a range of training available as part of the WISERD stakeholders. resources, initiatives and other provision, research reports series available for example the Welsh Government’s The interviews explored individual at www.wiserd.ac.uk/ REACT scheme, and there was evidence of narratives of transition through publications/info/research- uptake of training opportunities. However redundancy including ex-workers’ there was an apparent gap between reports/ accounts of training and support; and training provision and the quality of elicited interviewee’s views about the available work opportunities on the island. A full presentation on the project impact of the closure on themselves, on their families and the wider community. and its findings will be made at Although unemployment is comparably low Interviewees were also asked for their the Third Annual WISERD on the island, the number of vacancies is views on the economic prospects for also low. This is counter intuitive and goes Conference in Bangor, 28th-29th Anglesey now and in the future. against the conventional wisdom of what is March 2012 by Dr Alex Plows and known as the Beveridge curve where low Huw Lloyd-Williams.

12 Local Knowledge, Spatial Practice and Urban Patrol

As part of the Local Knowledge in Context (KLiC) research programme, the Local Knowledge, Spatial Practice and Urban Patrol project has been exploring professional geographies of care, repair and inequalities in public space. Project researcher Dr Rob Smith and Principal Investigator Dr Tom Hall reveal what they discovered while observing key groups of people in the city centre of Cardiff as part of the project’s ethnography.

The key respondents of the study were Dr Hall and Dr Smith have described some outreach workers who seek out and of the street level complexities of welfare, support the city’s rough sleepers and, homelessness and the ‘good city’ in an separately, operate in a similar fashion in article recently published in Anthropology relation to the city’s street-based sex in Action. They’ve also had an article workers. They’re experts on movement, accepted for publication in Mobilities which local knowledge and urban renewal and the contributes to a politics of mobility by best way to learn is not to ask in an drawing attention to the difficulties the interview but to get out with the team on homeless face when trying to pull off a stop patrol. in a city centre geared up for smooth and easy (and thus profitable) pedestrian The project also walked the beat with Police circulation. Community Support Officers, members of the Council’s street cleansing crews, a Dr Smith had an article published in the member of the city centre management journal Symbolic Interaction which discussed and faith based initiatives operating out of the strategies that outreach workers employ hours in Cardiff, offering food, drink and in managing their interactions with the guidance to the vulnerable. homeless. The project team currently have another paper under review and are Each of the patrol workers operates with a finalising a chapter on the 24 hour city which duty and a care. For some the care is for is drawn from an actual twenty-four hour vulnerable groups like the homeless, period of sustained fieldwork on patrol with others are concerned with the safety of the various groups mentioned above. The visitors and workers in the city. Some are chapter will appear in Dr Smith’s funambulists, walking a line which traces forthcoming edited collection on ‘urban the politics of the city centre. All of them rhythms’. rely upon and gain a distinct knowledge of the city centre. A knowledge which, for each They also have a number of further papers patrol, has a distinct – sometimes planned which they’ll be developing at overlapping – geography, but has a various conference this year, including the common method; routine and regular British Sociological Association (BSA), pedestrian patrol, out there wherever the Royal Geographical society (RGS) and on action is. And all of them, in different ways, day two (March 29th) of the third annual are involved in the maintenance and upkeep WISERD Conference at Bangor University. of the fabric of the city centre. Their work More information about the project can be often goes unnoticed but one can imagine found here: www.wiserd.ac.uk/research/ things soon beginning to unravel if, one day, qualitative/klic/klic-local-knowledge- they were to stop. spatial-practice-and-urban-patrol/

13 Stay, Leave or Return A Statistical Portrait of the Early Careers of Welsh Graduates

Given the importance of The existence of a `brain drain’ of graduate Where do Welsh Graduates human capital to economic labour has long been a focus of debate (Drinkwater and Blackaby, 2004; Fevre Go Following Graduation? performance, it is widely 2004) with recent research confirming that acknowledged that graduates Wales is a ‘loser’ region insofar that it Patterns of graduate mobility among play a key role in Wales’ generates more undergraduates than it Welsh Born graduates are shown in recruits recent graduates in to Figure 1. Upon leaving university, many economic future. Historically employment (Hoare and Corver, 2009). graduates live within the family home. however, Wales has been a net Some of these graduates may have loser of graduates, often This article sets out some of the key attended a university within their locality statistical findings of a research project and would never have left home whilst described as the ‘brain drain’. recently conducted by colleagues in attending Higher Education. For many, the WISERD and the ESRC Centre on Skills, return to the family home is a short term Knowledge and Organisational phenomena whilst they search for their Performance (SKOPE) based at Cardiff first full-time position following graduation and Oxford Universities which sought to and gain their first job that facilitates examine the scale and nature of the independent living. The proportion living problem. within the family home declines steadily in the years following graduation, largely Previous studies have made much use of being accounted for by an increase in the data produced by the Higher Education proportion who leave home but who Statistics Agency (HESA), which provides remain living in Wales. Levels of migration excellent coverage of recent graduates in from Wales peak at between 10 to 14 years terms of their location and employment, following graduation. The reduction in but is limited as the data are collected just levels of net outward migration among six months after graduation. A key feature Welsh graduates that occurs beyond this of this new study is the use of data from point is accounted for by a reduction in the the Labour Force Survey (LFS), the largest proportion of Welsh-born graduates living regular household survey conducted in the in London, the East and the South East UK. The LFS enables consideration of how (collectively referred to as the Inner Region graduate mobility and graduate careers Core). This provides us with some evolve over time, focused on ‘young’ (aged evidence of ‘returners’ to Wales possibly 25 or below when graduated) graduates associated with family formation. since the 1992 expansion of Higher Education. The research aims to provide What Do Graduates Do a more nuanced understanding of the different stages of graduate mobility. Following Graduation?

Fig. 1 An overwhelmingly large majority of 100% graduates gain employment following graduation. However, the expansion of 90% Migrant - Rest of UK numbers participating in Higher Education 80% over the last two decades has led to concerns regarding the ability of the labour 70% Migrant - Inner market to absorb the growing number of Region Core

s 60% Living with university graduates. A likely consequence e t Parents is that many more highly qualified a

u 50% individuals will have to find jobs outside d a r 40% the ‘traditional’ areas of graduate G employment, many of which are now % 30% Non-Migrant - approaching saturation point in terms of 20% Left Home graduate penetration rates (Brown, 2004). Elias and Purcell (2004) have produced the 10% so-called SOC (HE) classification to specify 0% employment using HESA Destinations of 0-4 Years 5-9 Years 10-14 Years 15 Years+ Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) Wales data in terms of ‘graduate’ and ‘non-

14 graduate’ occupations, where a Fig. 2 non-graduate jobs is defined as a 60 job where the skills, knowledge and b experience associated with the competent o J 50 e performance of work tasks is less than t a that which would be expected to held by a u d a person who had successfully completed a r 40 G -

degree. n o N

a 30

The distinction between graduate and non- n i d

graduate occupations provides a succinct e y o

way of summarising the careers of l 20 p

graduates. Figure 2 presents combined m E

data on Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish s

e 10 t graduates as little difference was observed a u in these patterns between the devolved d a r nations. Overall, the proportion of young G 0 graduates employed in non-graduate % 0-4 years 5-9 years 10-14 years 15 years+ occupations declines with time as they find Non Migrant - Left Home Living with Parents employment in jobs that are more suited to their skills. The share of employment in Migrant - IRC Migrant - Rest of UK Fig. 3 non-graduate occupations among 700 employed graduates is consistently higher among those who live in their region of 651 650 birth and is highest among those who live in the parental home (although it must be 600 584 noted that this group becomes smaller 567 over time). However, the differences in the 550 530 531 533 535 proportion of migrating and non-migrating 507 512 graduates employed in non-graduate 499 500 486 occupations appear to narrow over time, 469 from 18 percentage points during the first 450 four years following graduation to seven G r o percentage points beyond 15 years s s 400 following graduation. W

e IRC Rest of Wales Scotland Northern All e

k England Ireland l Figure 3 reveals that graduate earnings y E UK Region a

are generally lower in the public sector r

n Figure 3: Gross Weekly Earnings i compared to the private sector. However, n g Private Public of Post-1992 Young Graduates Wales stands out as exhibiting higher s ( £ relative earnings in the public sector ) among post-1992 graduates compared to Concluding Comments the private sector (a differential of approximately £40 per week). This finding There are varied policy implications of these The path dependent and evolutionary nature emphasises the importance of the public findings. First and foremost, this research of graduate migration also means that sector in Wales in providing a source of reinforces the importance of the relative these findings raise interesting questions relatively well-paid work for graduates. economic opportunities available in the around Higher Education (HE) tuition fees. Despite its lower earnings, the incidence of region. Graduate migration decisions are Increasingly variable HE fees regimes non-graduate employment is generally strongly influenced by the search for across different parts of the UK are likely to lower in the public sector than it is in the employment and a higher salary, with the have potentially very significant effects. private sector reflecting the availability of a Inner Region Core continuing to provide a Current Welsh Government policy on HE range of roles that are more likely to utilise powerful pull for graduates from all over the fees could be regarded as incentivising the skills accumulated by graduates. Only UK, and particularly Wales. Whilst the Welsh student migration, with potentially within the Inner Region Core does the expansion of the public sector in Wales and fewer students choosing to stay local in private sector appear to provide roles that other regions has dampened this trend to a order to minimise costs. This highlights are of comparable suitability to graduates degree in recent years, the current recession interesting tensions between what policy as those provided by the public sector. and public expenditure cutbacks threaten to might clearly be desirable as far as Almost a third of private sector jobs held significantly erode these opportunities individuals are concerned and what might by post-1992 graduates in Wales are (Wright, 20110; WAO, 2011), placing much be better for a region in economic terms. classified as not being commensurate with greater onus on the private sector to create the skills of individuals who possess a graduate employment opportunities, or Further Information degree. graduates themselves to set up their own businesses. It is worth noting that Wales is Links to the full report, papers and not alone in facing these issues. Given the presentations emerging from the links between graduate retention and research are available from the regional economic performance, a number WISERD website at of UK regions have developed explicit www.wiserd.ac.uk/research/ graduate retention interventions (such as the Scottish ‘Fresh Talent’ initiative) may wiserd-projects-current/ provide useful insights for policy-makers. welsh-graduate-migration/ 15 Forthcoming WISERD Events Introduction to Spatial Exploring the Use of Visual Analysis Using OpenSource Media in the Communication GIS Software of Research Dates: 16th and 17th May 2012 Date: 12th July 2012 Time: 9.30am - 4.30pm Time: 10.00am - 4.15pm Venue: WISERD Training Room, Venue: Glamorgan Committee Rooms, 46 Park Place, Cardiff University Cardiff University Using open source GIS software (R Spatial), This exploratory seminar will bring together a participants will be guided through a series of range of social science researchers and visual sophisticated geo-processing functions and media experts, working within and across a shown how they can be used to analyse and variety of fields, to explore the challenges and visualise their research data and contribute to a opportunities of using visual media in the richer mixed-methods approach for social representation of research findings. science research.

Integrating Quantitative Teaching Quantitative Methods in Substantive Methods Workshop 3: Social Science Modules: Teaching Data Collection Inequalities and Stratification, and Analysis Sociology of Education Dates: 1st – 2nd November 2012 Times: Day 1: 12.00 – 17.30 Dates: 28th and 29th June 2012 Day 2: 9.00 – 17.00 Times: Day 1: 12.00pm – 5:30pm Venue: TBC Day 2: 9.00am – 5.00pm Venue: WISERD Hub, This workshop, the third of the series, will 46 Park Place, Cardiff, CF10 3BB return to looking at research methods based modules by following the Undergraduate This workshop will suit both QM and non-QM students’ progression into Stage 2 and focus teachers who wish to develop and design new on data collection and data analysis. materials using quantitative research in substantive modules.

W: www.wiserd.ac.uk T: 029 2087 5345 E: [email protected] @WISERDNews

www.facebook.com/wiserdnews