Government Social Research
Welcome to the October GSR bulletin.
Please use the links below to navigate to sections of interest to you.
Visit Research news and the homepage for more details of the following stories and more recent items.
GSR annual conference
Nearly 200 GSR members heard from a range of speakers from all
parts of government, and from the academic, media and commercial worlds
at this year's annual GSR conference in Cardiff. Reports of the plenary
sessions and all the many parallel sessions of workshops and symposia are
currently being prepared for posting on this site. Some of the sessions
included slide presentations. These will not be posted on the site, but
where they are available this will be indicated in the reports and you will
be able to request them. The reports on the plenary sessions will appear
from w/c 30 October, with the parallel session notes following shortly afterwards.
The new Department for Communities and Local Government
The new Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG)
was launched on 2nd October. The Department is changing in response to global
and national changes including climate change, increasing global uncertainty,
demographic changes in the UK and tighter public finances. There is a completely
new group structure in place which is designed to provide a clearer focus
for the Department's work in Places. The new vision is one which seeks to
create prosperous and cohesive communities through developing strong and
accountable leadership, better services, homes and neighbourhoods and regeneration
and investment in towns, cities and regions.
Farewell to Deputy Director Phil Davies
GSRU bid a fond farewell to Deputy Director Phil Davies at the
end of September, after 6 years of sterling service to GSRU, its previous
incarnations, and to the GSR profession generally. Phil has moved to become
Executive Director, Campbell Collaboration, American Institutes for Research
in Washington. Among his first challenges is oversight of the 2007 annual
Campbell Colloquium, which is staged in UK for the first time, in London
14-16 May 2007.
A recruitment exercise is underway to appoint Phil's successor in GSRU. Meanwhile, Teresa Williams is Acting Deputy Director.
GSRU are also recruiting a Social research/Evaluation consultant (Grade
6/7) to strengthen the analytical team.
Results of both exercises will be announced in November.
GSRU announces extra MSc places
This is the premier qualification for GSR members. A modular degree completed
part-time over two years, the MSc is exclusively available to government
social researchers. Apply now and take advantage of the enhanced career
development and learning opportunities it offers. Applications must be received
by the deadline of Monday 16 October.
Annual DfES Research
Conference
will take place on Friday 24 November at the QEII Centre in Westminster.
with the theme "Successes and challenges: new evidence on delivering
education, training, and children and young people's services".
GSRU announce
new dates for the popular range of courses
Designed for researchers and other analysts working within government, and
for policymakers who work closely with researchers.
ESRC announce invitation
for outline applications for the establishment of a new independent, multidisciplinary,
academically based Transport Research Centre (TRC).
The main role of the Centre will be to strengthen the provision and utilisation
of independent, high quality, relevant and robust research and analysis,
aimed at developing the necessary evidence base with which to address the
significant transport policy questions facing the UK.
Department
for Transport (DfT) announce a new approach to funding highly innovative
and wide ranging research into key long term transport issues.
The new approach to research is expected to result in far greater advances
than simply awarding funding to a single organisation. It will allow a small
number of consortia, with wide ranging expertise, to work in collaboration
to tackle some of the major transport challenges of the next decade. DfT
invited Expressions of Interest to participate in academic/industry multidisciplinary
research and innovation consortia. Closing Date for Expressions of Interest
- 12:00pm Friday 3 November 2006.
The
ESRC invites applications under the Survey Design and Measurement Initiative.
Full proposals must be submitted to the ESRC by 4pm on Thursday 30 November
2006.
Department
for transport (DfT) publish Transport Technology and Standards: Planned
research 2006-07
Contains outlines of the research projects expected to start during 2006/07,
listed according to theme and sub-theme.
Australian
Bureau of Statistics publish Research and experimental development: government
and private non-profit organisations, Australia: 2004-05
S tatistics on expenditure and human resources, classified by socioeconomic
objective, field of research, type of expenditure, type of activity, source
of funds, type of employee and location of expenditure.
The European Socio-economic Classification
Development Project
From October 2004 to September 2006, a consortium of universities, research
institutes and National Statistics Institutions across Europe conducted
a project to develop a prototype European Socio-economic Classification.
ONS was project co-ordinator.
The death
of the scientific paper
An article in The Scientist suggests that the scientific manuscript has
outlived its usefulness. Genome-scale inquiry and high-throughput experimentation
yield enormous data sets, straining the established article framework; meanwhile,
isolated findings or negative results are seldom published at all. Click
to read more.
Department
of Education, Science and Training, Australia publish Research communication
costs in Australia: emerging opportunities and benefits
Draws on international and local experience to provide a preliminary cost-benefit
analysis of existing and emerging alternatives for scholarly communication.
National
Drug and Alcohol Research Centre / Australian National Council on Drugs
publish Evidence-based answers to cannabis questions: a review of the literature.
Cannabis remains the most commonly used illicit drug in Australia, with
an estimated five million people aged 14 and above having tried the drug.
Typically, people begin using cannabis in their late teens or early twenties;
thereafter, use steadily decreases. While most cannabis use is experimental
or intermittent, it has been estimated that around one in ten people who
try cannabis become dependent on it.
Department of Finance
Canada news release "Canada’s new government cuts wasteful programs,
refocuses spending on priorities, achieves major debt reduction as promised".
A detailed breakdown of the spending cuts is on the Treasury
Board Secretariat website.
2-year Program Savings Identified include:
Mathematica
publish semimonthly Update
Contents include: Key early childhood resources updated; Parental influence
on children's occupational choices; Health plan pay-for-performance strategies
reviewed; Hospital quality reporting.
RePEc
RePEc (Research Papers in Economics) is a collaborative effort of hundreds
of volunteers in 54 countries
and
34 US states to enhance the dissemination of research in economics.
The heart of the project is a decentralised database of working papers,
journal articles and software components. All RePEc material is freely available.
You may add your own materials to RePEc through a department or institutional archive - all institutions are welcome to join and contribute their materials by establishing and maintaining their own RePEc archive.
RePEc now collaborates with the American Economic Association's EconLit database to provide content from leading universities' working paper series to EconLit.
The RePEc database holds over 388,000 items of interest, over 283,000 of which are available online.
Visit the Bulletin Archive to view the contents
of previous Bulletins.
See the updated External
events page for news of opportunities in 2006 and 2007.
Copy deadline for next Bulletin is 13 November 2006