‘Working together’: joint meeting between Scottish Executive
Office of the Chief Researcher and Welsh Assembly Government Office of the
Chief Social Research Officer Cathays Park, Cardiff
In April, a joint meeting between Scottish Executive Office of the Chief
Researcher and Welsh Assembly Government Office of the Chief Social Research
Officer was hosted by Angela Evans (Chief Social Research Officer, Welsh
Assembly Government) in Cardiff.
Diana Wilkinson (Chief Researcher, Scottish Executive), Angela Evans and
colleagues from the two offices used the meeting to identify and discuss
shared issues for social research in the two devolved administrations.
The meeting focused on joint working and information sharing. Four key
themes were discussed:
- Working together with research councils
(the discussion focused on collaborative studentships and work placements,
research programmes,
knowledge transfer and concordat arrangements)
- Working together with other government departments
(areas covered during this part of the meeting included large-scale surveys,
longitudinal research, research programmes and concordat arrangements)
- Sharing knowledge within our organisations
- How best to work together as devolved administrations
Outcomes from the meeting include:
- The possibility of developing an annual joint social research exchange
event between Scottish Executive, Welsh Assembly Government and possibly
Northern Ireland.
- A framework for discussing possible future collaboration between ESRC
and the devolved administrations on academic work to inform evidence for
policy development and delivery in a devolved context.
- The possibility of developing a joint session/workshop at the next GSR
conference on use of evidence in the devolved administrations.
- The use of the above liaison activities and proposed exchange events
to act as catalysts for developing further connections between analysts
based in the Scottish Executive and Welsh Assembly Government.
The meeting provided a valuable opportunity for future collaboration between
Scottish Executive and Welsh Assembly Government analysts, as well as potential
areas for joint working. Social researchers from both departments look forward
to engaging with these joint opportunities as they are developed.
Participants at the meeting were:
- Angela Evans (Chief
Social Research Officer, Welsh Assembly Government);
- Diana Wilkinson (Chief
Social Researcher, Scottish Executive);
- Julie Carr and Gill Clark from the Office of the Chief Researcher, Scottish
Executive; and
- Richard Thurston, Becca Sarasin, Ian Jones, Beverley
Morgan, Sophie Bennett and Jess McQuade from the Office of Chief
Social Research Officer, Welsh Assembly Government.
For more information, please contact:
Pictured are Julie Carr, Ian Jones, Becca Sarasin, Sophie Bennett, Beverley
Morgan, Jessica McQuade, Diana Wilkinson, Angela Evans.
