IER welcomes two visitors from the Czech Republic this week (17/18 May). Ludvik Michalicka and Oleksandr Stupnytskyy from RILSA (Research Institute for Labour and Social Affairs) will visit the IER to discuss local economic modelling and forecasting. Rob Wilson will be providing information about the IER’s LEFM approach. Further details of the project can be found at:

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ier/research/rlmforecastingmodel/

IER, in conjunction with Cedefop (the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Education and Training), will be holding a Technical Workshop on Skills Forecasting from 10-11 May 2012 at the University of Warwick’s Warwick in Venice venue. This invitation-only workshop brings together experts from across the EU and other neighbouring countries to discuss issues relating to skills forecasting within the wider context of the Skillsnet network.

The workshop will provide an opportunity for participants to discuss a range of issues including a focus on the latest methodological developments and preliminary results from the 2012 work programme of the Forecasting Skill Supply and Demand project currently being undertaken by a consortium led by IER.

The main funding for the workshop has been provided by Cedefop, with additional support from the University of Warwick, the National Scientific Research Institute for Labour Market and Social Protection and  Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini.

An article by IER Professor Peter Elias, ESRC Strategic Advisor (Data Resources), has been published in the Autumn issue of ESRC Society Now (pages 22-23). The article explores the issue of data linking and its potential to add high value to existing surveys, or to create new data sources.

Dr Tony Meagher (Centre of Policy Studies, Monash University) and Dr Chandra Shah (Centre for the Economics of Education and Training, Monash University) are visiting IER during week commencing 26 September. Dr Meagher and Dr Shah will attend the Warwick International Symposium on Employment and Skills Forecasting on Thursday 29 September, organised by Professor Rob Wilson. Rob recently visited Monash as part of a collaborative research project being undertaken jointly with Tony Meagher on Anticipating Future Skill Needs, funded by the Monash-Warwick Strategic Funding Initiative. Dr Meagher will be presenting a paper during the Evaluation and Assessment session of the Symposium on “Assessing the reliability of labour market forecasts”.

Peter Elias attended the American Statistical Association 2011 Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM) in Miami, Florida which took place from 30 July to 4 August. The JSM is the world’s largest gathering of statisticians, where discussions centred around sharing research and information on topics including hurricanes and global warming, maintaining data privacy, and challenges for economic policy. Peter was panellist and presenter at a session on the topic of “The New World of Data on Human Beings: Challenges and Solutions to Promoting Research While Ensuring Confidentiality” alongside colleagues from Carnegie Mellon University, National Science Foundation, The University of Chicago, University of California at Berkeley. This session attracted over 50 people, many from the major state and federal statistical agencies in the US, to listen to and discuss views on the ways in which new forms of data (administrative records, transactions data, internet activity and imaging) are likely to be harnessed in the near future to supplement more traditional forms of statistical information obtained from censuses and surveys.