IER News & blogs
Upcoming roundtable event - ICT skills and online platforms for social inclusion
IER's Dr Sally-Anne Barnes and Professor Anne Green in collaboration with Professor Leela Damodaran from Loughborough University will be hosting a free roundtable event to identify the role of online platforms in providing opportunities for a better work-life balance in terms of new modes of working and new types of community engagement.The event to be held at the University of Warwick on 28 November (12-5pm) is being funded by the EPSRC Balance Network.
If you would like to attend please contact Lynne Marston. Places are limited and will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis.
Forthcoming seminar 'Prolonging working life through ICT: the role of crowdsourcing'
IER is hosting an EPSRC funded Balance Network
seminar on'Prolonging working life through ICT: the role of crowdsourcing'. The one day seminar will explore how crowdsourcing has changed the boundary between work and home, enabling older people to remain part of the labour force and perhaps achieve a new work-life balance. The interactive seminar will be held on 3 March at the University of Warwick. Click here to register your interest.
Dr Charoula Tzanakou participating in UK-Colombia RICO workshop
Dr Charoula Tzanakou has been selected to participate in the workshop Strengthening UK-Colombia Research & Innovation Cooperation (UK-Colombia RICO): The Role of Foresight and Horizon Scanning, funded by the British Council and taking place in Cali, Colombia on 26-28 November 2014. Dr Tzanakou will contribute to science and technology policy themes drawing on her doctoral and postdoc research on human resources in science and technology, as well as her participation in European Commission funded projects on higher education and European Research Area.
BIS Report on Technical Apprenticeships
A report on the demand for and supply of technical apprenticeships was published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on 31st March 2014. The report, entitled Research into the need for and capacity to provide technical apprenticeships in England, was co-authored by Terence Hogarth and Lynn Gambin from IER and researchers from Sheffield Hallam University.
The report suggests that there is a lean system of skills supply in place for technician-type skills. Supply and demand are currently finely balanced with employers expressing concern that that any marked increase in demand, which may arise as a consequence of the economic recovery and the commissioning of major infrastructure projects, may result in the emergence of skills shortages.
The study involved interviews with employers, training providers and various stakeholders across England and considers a number of industrial sectors where technical apprenticeships comprise an important part of skills development.
More on IER's programme of research on apprenticeships can be found at: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ier/research/apprenticeships-training
Peter Elias - Making the Connection
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.