Film Screening Opens WISERD Conference
A special screening of Dr Gideon Koppel’s award-winning film Sleep Furiously, introduced by the Director himself, will be the preamble to the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data and Methods’ (WISERD) annual conference, held in Swansea next week.
The screening, followed by a Q&A session with Dr Koppel, will take place at Swansea University’s Taliesin Arts Centre at 7.30pm on Monday, June 27.
It will precede WISERD’S two-day annual conference held on June 28-29, at Sketty Hall, which as Changing Wales: Social, Economic and Political Perspectives as its theme this year.
WISERD – a collaborative initiative between the Universities of Aberystwyth, Bangor, Cardiff, Glamorgan, and Swansea aims to establish itself as a sustainable research institute built on the active engagement of social science staff from across the Welsh HE sector and the involvement of a complex set of audiences/users in the public and private sectors.
The 94 minute film charts a year in the life of the remote Welsh farming community of Trefeurig in mid-Wales.
Commenting on why its screening is appropriate as the conference’s opener, event spokesperson Dr Heike Doring said: “Gideon Koppel’s documentary is a beautiful and melodic portrait of life in a village faced by the forces of change. The film takes our attention to rural lives, beleaguered in similar and different ways to other parts of Wales, such as the post-industrial lives in the South Wales Valleys.
“It resonates with themes explored in the work of WISERD. Researchers have engaged with substantive topics raised throughout the film, such as economic change, aging and declining communities but above all the power of landscape and a sense of place.
“At the same time, the question of how we experience and know the places we research has been a guiding theme for WISERD and researchers have experimented with image, sound and movement.
“Gideon Koppel’s film combines these elements and he has described the role of film in this endeavour, adding that ‘The filmic image has a sort of painterly quality that is evocative of a world rather than merely signifying it’.
“In its pursuit of evocation the film presents a fitting opening to the conference which does not merely aim to show but to engage participants with different perspectives on ‘Changing Wales’.”
For further information about the Sleep Furiously screening event and ticket prices, contact the Taliesin Arts Centre on 01792 602060, email: office@taliesinartscentre.co.uk, or visit: www.taliesinartscentre.co.uk/index.php.
For more information about WISERD and the conference click here
(As reported here on Swansea University website)
Conference to Review Welsh Economic & Social Science Landscape
The Wales Institute of Social & Economic Research, Data & Methods’ (WISERD) second annual summer conference, will reflect on the institute’s interdisciplinary working methods and feature an array of speakers from academia, central and local government, and third sector agencies.
A key topic under discussion at the conference will be an analysis of the economic contribution of major events in Wales, where Rob Holt (Chief Executive of Ryder Cup Wales 2010) will reflect on the value of the Ryder Cup. The session will also look at the wider public policy implications of major events and to developing methodologies to measure the impact of similar events in the future.
Another session will address the concept of ‘behaviour change’ within a Welsh context. Clive Bates, Director General of Sustainable Futures at the Welsh Assembly Government, will be joined by Cardiff University’s Professor Ken Peattie to review the work being undertaken around behaviour change in Wales and its potential to offer improved policy outcomes.
Academics based at Cardiff will also lead a discussion on the relationship between ageing and place in Wales; in terms of poverty in rural places, social inclusion, material hardships and cultural denials.
Dr Catrin Redknapp of the Welsh Language Board will chair a talk on bilingualism and linguistic behaviour in Wales, exploring how bilingual consumers process marketing messages and the sociolinguistic issues of working in a bilingual environment.
Other themes to be covered over the two-day conference include; Inequality in Wales, Poverty and Homelessness, Education and Health in Wales, Migration, Tourism, Citizenship, Criminology and Devolution, Participation and Civil Society, and Skills and Employment.
Professor Charlotte Williams, Professor of Social Justice at Keele University will open the conference with a keynote address on the theme of race and equality in social research in Wales. The conference will close with a special lecture from WISERD Director, Professor Gareth Rees, on higher education, social mobility and locality in Wales.
Professor Rees commented: “The WISERD Conference is becoming established as the major ‘shop window’ for social science research in Wales, providing an opportunity for researchers to engage across Wales and with policy-makers and the public more widely.”
WISERD is a collaborative venture between the Universities of Aberystwyth, Bangor, Cardiff, Glamorgan and Swansea.
Funded by the Higher Education Funding Council of Wales (HEFCW) and the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), WISERD has established itself as a leading centre for social science research excellence since its creation in 2008.
For more information about WISERD and the conference click here
(As reported here on Swansea University website)
