£4m study of key social issues to help build better public services
Published: 30 April 2013
Pressing issues such as crime rates, racial segregation, and social inequality are among concerns to be addressed by experts in a £4 million research initiative.
Pressing issues such as crime rates, racial segregation, and social inequality are among concerns to be addressed by experts in a £4 million research initiative.
Attitudes to Scottish independence in the run up to next year’s referendum will also come under scrutiny as part of the initiative, led by the universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Researchers will develop a broad programme of study over the next four years to help policy makers develop more effective policy, improve public services and build a better future for the public in Scotland.
The Herald: £4m social research project is launched
The Applied Quantitative Methods Network (AQMeN) Research Centre, based at the University of Edinburgh’s School of Law, has been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. It will be launched tomorrow (Tuesday 30 April) at the National Museum of Scotland.
Professor Gwilym Pryce of the University of Glasgow will examine how and why cities are often segmented by race, religion and social class, and the long term effects of this clustering.
Programme Director Professor Susan McVie will lead the research on Crime and Victimisation, which will seek to explain the dramatic drop in crime rates in Scotland over the last 30 years. Her team will investigate whether some parts of Scotland have seen greater crime reductions than others. It will also explore the social, economic and environmental factors that influence patterns of victimisation and offending.
Dr Cristina Iannelli, from the University’s Moray House School of Education, will study the mechanisms through which social inequalities in entry, progression and attainment in higher education affect people’s job prospects and civic participation.
Professor Lindsay Paterson from the University’s School of Social and Political Science, will explore the attitudes of the Scottish public towards the referendum debate. It will include a survey of teenagers who will be aged 16 at the referendum and will be able to vote for the first time. The impact of online social media on public attitudes will also come under the spotlight.
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The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is the UK's largest organisation for funding research on economic and social issues. It supports independent high quality research which has an impact on business, the public sector and the third sector. The ESRC's total budget for 2012/13 is £205 million. At any one time the ESRC supports over 4,000 researchers and postgraduate students in academic institutions and independent research institutes.
First published: 30 April 2013
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