Dr Deirdre Hughes OBE, IER Associate Fellow, has been appointed Chair of the new National Council for Careers by the Skills Minister John Hayes. The aim of the Council is to provide a forum in which experts from business and the careers sector can discuss the operation and development of the National Careers Service in England, and provide advice to Government.

Results of the Futuretrack Prize Draw were announced today (28 March). 110 lucky prize draw winners have been selected and contacted by the Futuretrack team with the good news.

HECSU donated 10 prizes of £1000 and 100 prizes of £100 as an incentive for respondents to participate in the final wave of the Futuretrack Survey - the most extensive investigation of the relationship between higher education and employment ever undertaken in the UK.

Data from this final wave of the survey will now be analysed and results published later in the year. For up to date information on Futuretrack, visit http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ier/futuretrack/

The Futuretrack Survey closes on 2 March 2012. The research team are keen to encourage as many people as possible to participants in the survey, to contribute to building a full picture of the labour market and a deeper understanding of the relationship between higher education and employment. Applicants to full-time higher education through UCAS in the academic year 2005/06 are eligible to participate, and have a chance to win a cash prize for completing the questionnaire.

Futuretrack is the most extensive investigation of the relationship between higher education and employment ever undertaken in the UK. The survey is being undertaken by IER on behalf of the Higher Education Careers Services Unit (HECSU)

Dr Lucy Hearne from the Department of Education and Professional Studies at the University of Limerick visited IER from 21-24 February. Dr Hearne has been awarded funding by the Irish Research Council for Humanities and Social Sciences (IRCHSS) for new research into the career resilience of career practitioners. She used her visit to undertake some data collection with Adult Guidance Practitioners in the region, and worked with IER colleague Jenny Bimrose on an academic article submission and developing ideas for potential research collaboration.

In the third of a series of podcasts about our work at the Institute for Employment Research, Professor Kate Purcell talks about the social consequences of education and training policy aimed at the expansion of higher education and widening access.