Bulletin: January 2008
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Continuing Professional Development
PRO or GSR Fast Streamer - secondment opportunity
Operational Research in Strategy Seminar
- How can OR be used to support organisational strategy? A number of GORS speakers will talk about their own experiences of supporting one or other part of the strategy cycle, and discuss what worked and where there are continuing challenges for OR practice. The aim of the seminar is to share ideas about what OR can deliver, and how it can maximise its contribution.
The afternoon will be split into three sessions focussing on different areas of strategy. Each session will involve case studies and panel discussions/Q&A on the approach taken, what worked, what didn’t work and lessons for the future. Speakers from DBERR, FSA, HMRC and others TBC.
Date: Tuesday 22nd January 2008, 13:45 - 17:00
Location: HMRC Boardroom,
100 Parliament Street, London, SW1A 2BQ
Closing date: To attend contact Maria Angulo by Tuesday 15th January. Places are limited to 65 and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. There is no charge for this event.
GSR members needed for Cambridge University Careers events: 30 January and 7 February
- Cambridge University Careers events - GSR has again been invited to attend two events at Cambridge University aimed at providing students with an insight into what it's like to work in various sectors, including - obviously - social research. If you are interested in talking to students about your work and are available on either Wednesday 30 January or Thursday 7 February, please click on the link for more details.
GSR Seminar Series: Propensity Score Matching:
- GSR Seminar Series: Propensity Score Matching: Tuesday 19 February 2008 - What is Propensity Score Matching and how can it be applied to government research? Looking at areas where PSM has been successfully applied but also discussing some of the problems of implementing the method.
Booking opens Monday 21 January 2008.
GSRU course schedule
Other research outputs
Mathematica
- Mathematica semimonthly update.
Contents include:
- Using vouchers to deliver child care and training services
- How long families receive food stamps and under what circumstances
- Disability is a determinant of material hardship
- Afterschool study reviewed in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis
- Special issue of Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation focuses on ticket to work
Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF)
- Drinking places: where people drink and why - "investigates the links between alcohol and where people drink it in two contrasting communities, one urban and one rural. Looking at a range of drinking practices, from abstinence to bingeing, the project explores how socio-economic processes shape place-specific cultures of alcohol consumption. The study evaluates the benefits and problems associated with alcohol use and examines how attitudes to, and use of, alcohol vary across social groupings. The study also explores the extent to which attitudes to, and use of, alcohol have changed between generations and the impact of local history on those attitudes. The fieldwork took place before the new licensing laws took effect in November 2005 and the report looks at a vital period in the history of the UK’s licensing policy, and identifies the policy implications of the local specificity of drinking cultures." [press release]
- Cannabis supply and young people - a snapshot of how young people in a large city and rural villages obtain cannabis. The study interviewed young people aged 11-19, who had used cannabis and/or been involved in cannabis transactions.
- How local planning authorities are delivering policies for affordable housing - a study on how local planning authorities have been implementing affordable housing policies (Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990) in the context of changing and uncertain policy.
- Combating child poverty in Wales: are effective education strategies in place? - argues that innovative education policies in Wales aim to combat the effects of child poverty on educational achievement but need to do more to overcome this relationship
- Monitoring poverty and social exclusion 2007 - the annual report on the state of poverty and social exclusion in the United Kingdom covers low income, work, education, health, housing, disadvantaged children and exclusion from services. Provides a comprehensive analysis of trends and differences between groups; examines the progress being made on reducing poverty and social exclusion, in light of the Government's ambitious target to halve child poverty by 2010.
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
- Social status, lifestyle and cultural consumption - evaluates three existing theories of cultural consumption, using data from the UK, Chile, France, Hungary, Israel, the Netherlands and US. Seeks to refine the differences in the hierarchical arrangement, known as social stratification, of people in society by taking into account the backgrounds of the people surveyed, including education, income and social class. Previous research in this field had used such factors interchangeably, but this project sought to draw a clear distinction between social class and social status. It concludes that there is little evidence of a ‘cultural elite’ that aspires to ‘high culture’, while turning its back on popular culture; education and social status determine what we listen to and watch.
GO-Science
- GO-Science announce the publication of the updated Code of Practice for Scientific Advisory Committees, and the Government Response to the consultation on the Code update.
The publications can be found on:
Website of the Month
Local Authority Research Council Initiative (LARCI)
- Local Authority Research Council Initiative (LARCI) - aims to bring local authorities and the Research Councils into closer partnership. Strategically positioned at the interface between local authorities and the Research Councils, LARCI was established in 1997 in response to the growing demand on local authorities for evidence-based policymaking. Input from local authorities helps the Research Councils ensure the projects they fund have practical applications; using Research Council-funded research helps local authorities ensure their policies are based on reliable information.
The shared priorities between central and local government
(PDF) will provide the framework in which LARCI operates.
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Copy deadline for next Bulletin is noon 11 February 2008
