News and Events

We are delighted to offer two PhD scholarships linked to these two important topics:

1. Intercultural research on diversity in professional contexts

2. Linguistic Bias in Large Language Model Artificial Intelligence

A new research paper, led by Professor Emma Smith has recently been published. The study compares findings from two national surveys of education researchers - one from 2002 and another from 2022, that was led by colleagues in Education Studies. It examines how the types of research methods used have shifted over the past two decades and places these trends within broader debates about purpose, quality, and methodology in the field.

The study reveals that education researchers today report using fewer research methods than their counterparts twenty years ago. It also highlights an increasing divide between those who use numeric approaches and those who rely on non-numeric methods.

Read the full article below

Smith, E., Gorard, S., Morris, R., Perry, T., & Pilgrim‐Brown, J. (2025). Then and now: Twenty years of Education research methods use in the United Kingdom - Smith - British Educational Research Journal - Wiley Online LibraryLink opens in a new window

The Gatsby Foundation and the JP Morgan Chase Foundation are supporting the Institute for Employment Research at the University of Warwick to undertake research to understand how parents and carers can be better supported by schools and colleges to feel more informed and confident with the advice they give to their children. Dr John Gough from our Careers team has been involved in the research project on 'The role of parents in providing careers guidance and how they can be better supported.'

You can read the report findings along with the recording of a live webinar explaining more about the project here.

Commenting on the recommendations of the Tackling Violence against Women and Girls inquiry, to which she submitted written evidence, Professor Sonia Bhalotra said:

“The recommendations in the report are welcome, but could have gone further.

“I welcome the emphasis on prevention, but this should be extended beyond the focus on working with boys and girls in schools.

“Prevention-focused schemes which I am evaluating include the extension of unemployment benefits to men and women; incentives for employers to hire victims of abuse; community building to improve access to real-life social networks; expansion of IAPT or other access to mental health support; and changes to public opinion, alongside criminal justice reforms.

“The policy framework focuses on women and girls who have been victimized. For prevention we need to understand systematic drivers of VAWG in the full population-- all women are at risk.

“While it is good to see the report calling for the Home Office to ‘identify and share lessons learnt from local initiatives,’ a large research community is working to evaluate the success of VAWG policies in the UK, Europe and further afield. There are creative new strategies around the world which could inform UK policy once rigorously evaluated.

“At the same time, we are trying to understand the home and work environment to identify drivers of VAWG and, in this way, identify new policy interventions.

“This long-neglected issue is gaining policy salience the world over, and I look forward to seeing the Government’s response to the committee’s recommendations.”

NOTES

• The Committee's report is available here: Tackling Violence against Women and Girls
• Professor Bhalotra’s written evidence is available here: committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/138304/html/
• Professor Bhalotra’s research on VAWG includes analysis of domestic violence and workplace sexual harassment. Her research investigates the importance of employment (or financial independence), social isolation, mental health problems, and exposure to misogyny on social media. Among policies she is evaluating are legislation that subsidises employers who hire victims of domestic abuse, and legislation that makes firms liable for workplace sexual harassment. Professor Bhalotra has a large ongoing programme of research on violence against women and girls (VAWG) for which she has been awarded 2.5 million euros by the European Research Council Advanced Grant scheme. The aim of this work is to produce a robust tapestry of evidence to guide policy and further scholarship in this domain.

Do you work in research or innovation? The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) is conducting the 2024 Research and Innovation Workforce Survey. Take the survey and have your voice heard.

The Strategic Brand Signalling Roundtable was held to examine trade marks, advertising, and body image perceptions in the UK. The event brought together professionals from ethics, psychology, psychiatric epidemiology, and trade mark and advertising law to discuss these interconnected issues.

In a new article in The Conversation, PAIS's Tom Long and co-author Carsten-Andreas Schulz draw on an overlooked French intervention in Mexico to reflect on the tensions underpinning today's crisis of international order.

Read the article -> How 1860s Mexico offered an alternative vision for a liberal international order 

The British Academy is inviting proposals from early career researchers in the humanities and social sciences wishing to pursue an independent research project, towards the completion of a significant piece of publishable research.

The Sociology Department will be supporting applications to the next round of the Leverhulme Early Career Fellowships Scheme, which aims to provide career development opportunities for those who are at a relatively early stage of their academic careers.

There is a single-stage internal selection process, with applicants invited to submit expressions of interest to the department by 12 noon on Thursday, 1st December 2022.

Queries about the scheme or process should be sent to Professor Nick Gane (Director of Research) at N.Gane@warwick.ac.uk