Government Social Research
30 November 2005 - Mathematica publish semimonthly update on new publications, presentations, and other developments
Contents include:
Annual brief on State Food Stamp participation rates; ethics of Federal Social Program evaluation; Lessons from the field: universal engagement in practice; alternative routes to teaching: impacts of Teach For America; who's presenting at the American Public Health Association meetings?
24 November 2005 - Home Office RDS have posted the following research summaries:
22 November 2005 - Public Attitudes to Climate Change and Transport - Request for Research
The Department for Transport has commissioned an evidence-based review on Public Attitudes to Climate Change and Transport. Jillian Anable (UKERC Transport and Aviation Topic Leader, The Centre for Transport Policy), Dr Ben Lane (Ecolane Transport Consultancy) and Dr Tanika Kelay (Surrey University) will carry out the review and are looking for any existing literature or work in progress to add to the evidence base on:
If you have any literature on this subject or can point the researchers in the direction of any work being carried out in this area, please respond to Jillian Anable, tel - 01224 263136.
21 November 2005 - The Centre for Research in Public Sector Management (CRPSM), University of Canberra publish Government, the third sector and the rise of social capital
Asks whether social capital is set to emerge as a major theme in public policy at the national level and, if so, what are the implications for third sector organisations participating in newly contestable quasi-markets for health, labour market and community services?
17 November 2005 - Publication of Mathematica Update
Semimonthly update on new publications, presentations, and other developments.
Contents include:
15 November 2005 - Call for applications for travel grants to conduct research in New Zealand - deadline 31 January 2006
The NZ-UK Link Foundation, in association with the UK Academy of Social Sciences, invites applications for travel grants to conduct research in New Zealand.
This £10,000 scheme is intended to support comparative social and policy research that strengthens the relationship between the two countries. The scholarship will fund travel and living expenses for visits to New Zealand of between one and three months. Applicants are expected to be British nationals, living and working in the UK.
8 November 2005 - Semimonthly update from Mathematica
Contents include:
Care Coordination for Chronically Ill Medicare Beneficiaries; School Data for Detecting Disease Outbreaks; DRIs Used to Examine Nutrient Adequacy for Vulnerable Groups.
7 November 2005 - A Fellowship in Berlin
Alexy Buck, Deputy Head of the Legal Services Research Centre at the Legal Services Commission and a long-standing GSR member, recently returned from secondment in Berlin at the Social Science Research Centre (Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB)). Her time in Berlin was the consequence of a T.H. Marshall Fellowship in European Social Policy awarded by the London School of Economics (LSE) and, aside from providing the opportunity to undertake a research project, brought fresh working, cultural and personal insights.
4 November 2005 - Article in The Scientist (Concerns over new EU ethics panel)
Claims that "a fight has erupted" over the composition of the 15-member European Group on Ethics (EGE) in Science and New Technologies, an independent and multidisciplinary body which counsels the EC on policies and legislation. Some [members] are arguing that new nominations were based on political and religious considerations, not ability or experience. Scientists also raised concerns that the increasingly conservative body may place new limits on research.
4 November 2005 - EPPI-Centre, part of the Social Science Research Unit at the Institute of Education, University of London, publish a systematic review (Thinking skills approaches to effective teaching and learning: what is the evidence for impact on learners?)
Finds that pupils whose teachers use a 'thinking skills' approach can receive an intellectual boost equal on average to more than half a year's extra schooling. The review of research on the impact of these approaches - which teach children to understand and express their thinking processes - has found they improve pupils' attitude and performance, both in general reasoning and in curriculum tests. The improvement is much more marked in maths and science than in reading comprehension.
2 November 2005 - DEFRA invitation for Expressions of Interest - Wellbeing research (closing date 18 November)
Defra has announced calls for Expressions of Interest for a number of projects on wellbeing:
2 November 2005 - The Legal Services Research Centre is conducting a continuous survey of civil justice problems: the English and Welsh Civil and Social Justice Survey
The survey was previously a periodic survey. BMRB will be conducting the fieldwork for the continuous survey which will commence in January. Further details from: Alexy Buck , Deputy Head, Legal Services Research Centre, Tel:+ 44 (0) 20 7759 1191.