IER News & blogs

Two articles from IER staff, Dr Michael Orton and Dr. Clare Lyonette, have been shortlisted for this year’s SAGE Prize for Innovation and Excellence, the winner of which will be announced at the BSA conference in April 2012. The prize is awarded annually to one paper in each of the BSA’s four prestigious journals: Cultural Sociology; Sociological Research Online; Sociology; and Work, Employment and Society.

The prize is awarded to the paper published in the previous year’s volume judged to represent innovation or excellence in the field. The IER nominations both appeared in Work, Employment and Society in the previous year and will be considered alongside three other short-listed articles. To find out more about the articles by Clare and Michael, see:

Clare Lyonette, Gayle Kaufman and Rosemary Crompton ‘We both need to work’: maternal employment, childcare and health care in Britain and the USA, Work, Employment and Society 25: 34-50.

Michael Orton Flourishing Lives: the capabilities approach as a framework for new thinking about employment, work and welfare in the 21st century, Work, Employment and Society 25: 352-60.

At the 14th AlmaLaurea conference, held at the university of La Sapienza in Rome on 8th March, Professor Kate Purcell was discussant for the main paper presented by professor Andrea Cammelli, Director of AlmaLaurea, discussing the findings of the 2011 survey and trends in the early graduate career transitions of Italian graduates from 64 universities, in the context of recession, global change and the complexities of the current European economy reporting the findings of the 14th Annual Survey. The conference is attended by a wide range of Italian and other European policymakers, academics and graduate employers, including with speakers from a range of countries: http://www.almalaurea.it/info/convegni/roma2012/

On the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Tuesday 28^th February, Peter Elias discussed his latest publication (co-authored with Professor Kate Purcell) ‘Higher Education and Social Background’. The short interview discussed the main findings from this research, that rapid increase in participation in higher education, which took place in the 1990’s, had disproportionately benefited those from ‘white collar’ social backgrounds.

Many thanks for all your feedback about the Futuretrack study. Owing to popular demand, we have extended the survey until Tuesday 6 March.

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)