IER News & blogs

On the 1 December at 11.00 (CET) Cedefop will launch the new Skills Panorama website. Skills Panorama turns labour market data and information into useful, accurate and timely intelligence that informs policy-makers about skills and jobs in Europe. The new website will provide a more comprehensive and user-friendly central access point for information and intelligence on skill needs in occupations and sectors across Europe. The new Skills Panorama is intended primarily for policy-makers and experts. It provides them with a tool for developing evidence-based education and training and planning policy, including measures to tackle labour market mismatches.

Skills Panorama is brought to you by the European Commission and is powered by Cedefop. The Consortium composed of Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini, Cambridge Econometrics, RAND Europe and the University of Warwick’s Institute for Employment Research supported Cedefop by providing data analysis and intelligence on skills and labour markets for the new Skills Panorama. Register for the online event and learn more about the new Skills Panorama. For further details of IER's involvement contact: Terence Hogarth or Lynn Gambin

Like Skills Panorama on Facebook and follow it on Twitter and on YouTube.

W.W. Daniel, an Associate Fellow of the Institute for Employment Research (IER) for many years, has died after a long illness. W.W. Daniel – Bill to everyone who knew him – was one of Britain’s most prominent, outstanding and influential social scientists. He was appointed CBE in 1997. Amongst his many achievements were those of creating the Workplace Employment Relations Surveys (WERS) - possibly the most cited social surveys in the world - and carrying out the first, large-scale longitudinal survey of unemployed people in Britain (published as the Unemployed Flow). As well as WERS he will be remembered for the pioneering study of Racial Disadvantage in England (Penguin, 1968), which had a decisive influence on the Race Relations Act of 1968.

Terence Hogarth, a Principal Research Fellow in IER, who worked with Bill for many years, commented: "Bill was an outstanding social scientist who made a massive impact on so many aspects of working life in Britain. He was an inspiration to work alongside and he will be very much missed by all who knew him. But more than anything else he will be remembered as a generous, loyal, and courageous friend."

Key professions such as nursing, teaching and social work are losing thousands of potential recruits as student mothers drop out of higher education due to a lack of support from universities. New research led by IER's Dr Clare Lyonette is published today. The research, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, highlights the true scale of the pressures placed upon mothers who go to university and calls for more to be done to assist them. Read more about the project and download the reports here.

This week IER welcomes Dr Stephen Whelan as a visiting academic from the University of Sydney. Stephen is a labour economist with a research focus on social policy and its impact on labour market outcomes. Whilst at IER for the next few months, Stephen will be working with Chris Warhurst and Sally Wright researching global jobs.

IER is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Deirdre Hughes OBE as a Principal Research Fellow. Deirdre has a long established relationship with IER and has been an Associate Fellow since 2006. Deirdre is an international expert in careers, employment and skills policy, research and practice. Her main research interests include: the marketisation of careers provision; partnership and city approaches to careers work; assessing and measuring the impact of guidance interventions; quality and evidence-based approaches to careers, employment and skills; the application of careers coaching, information communications technologies (ICT) and labour market intelligence in public sector services.

She is also Co-Editor of the British Journal for Guidance and Counselling: International Symposium Series. Deirdre is currently Chair of a DfE/CfBT Senior Advisory Group (Promotions) raising the profile of a new Core Maths Support Programme across England. She has acted as a Commissioner at the UK Commission for Employment & Skills (UKCES, 2011 - 2015). Deirdre was Chair of the National Careers Council in England (2012 - 2014), reporting directly to three Skills Ministers.

Deirdre has given written and oral evidence to UK-wide Parliamentary and Assembly Governments and published extensively in academic and professional journals. She is a consultant to the European Lifelong Guidance Policy Network (ELGPN, 2011-2015) on quality assurance and evidence-based policies and practices. Deirdre recently led a UK Country delegation to the International Centre for Career Development and Public Policy (ICCDPP) 7th Symposium held in Iowa. The Mayor of London recently endorsed her work on 'London Ambitions: Shaping a Successful Careers Offer for all young Londoners'. She is passionate about improving careers support systems and encouraging young people to build upon their early achievements in mathematics. In 2012, she was awarded an Order of the British Empire by Her Majesty the Queen for services to career guidance.