About

Latest News

Evaluation of Learned Societies Project (posted 14/05/2013)
The Academy of Social Science invites tender applications from suitably qualified consultants to undertake an evaluation of learned societies. The first phase will be to evaluate the social and economic value of learned societies to set a benchmark for the second later phase to evaluate the impact of the move to open access publishing in the UK on learned societies on learned societies.

The Invitation to Tender document can be downloaded here. The return date for completed tenders is Friday, 31 May 2013.

Understanding Society Innovation Panel Competition: Call for proposals (posted 09/05/2013)
The Innovation Panel Competition is one way researchers can get directly involved with influencing and developing Understanding Society study, while developing their own research interests. Researchers submit ideas for an experiment or test to be carried in the subsequent wave or waves of the Innovation Panel e.g. successful entries submitted in the Competition in 2011 were carried in Wave 5 of the Innovation Panel, which was carried out in 2012. Deadline for submissions 15 May 2013.

Sociology at Frankfurt becomes one Department (posted 12/04/2013)

Sociology at the Goethe-University, Frankfurt was organized into a single Department of Sociology since 1 April 2013. Despite the 20th century fame of sociology in Frankfurt through the visibility of "The Frankfurt School," the Frankfurt sociologists had been divided into two institutes.

With 24 professors and 50 assistants, sociology in Frankfurt is the largest sociology department in Germany, together with Bielefeld. "Working together in one institute made sense in light of the move to the Westend campus, the wave of retirements and new hires in recent years, and the new Bachelor and Masters course offerings," according to the first chair of the new department, Professor Heather Hofmeister: "We wanted to increase the visibility of sociology in Frankfurt and show that Frankfurt is reinventing itself."

The sociologists have elected 5 professors to get them started: besides Hofmeister as chair, Prof. Markus Gangl is the Director of Finance, Prof. Kira Kosnick is Director of Personnel, Prof. Birgit Becker is Director of Research, and Prof. Phil C. Langer is Director for Teaching. Says Hofmeister, "Coordinating our teaching and course offerings through one common department is something that will benefit the students tremendously."

Your Research Methods Teaching - HEA Survey (posted 11/04/2013)

The Higher Education Academy STEM cluster is carrying out a major project entitled Skills in Mathematics and Statistics in the Disciplines and Tackling Transition. The work is considering the mathematical and statistical skills of undergraduate students throughout the UK, across a range of subject areas in Higher Education (HE). Sociology is one of the chosen subject areas. As part of this project they are conducting a national survey of HE Heads of Departments of Sociology and HE lecturers who are involved in teaching quantitative methods to Sociology undergraduates. If you are in either of these categories please complete the questionnaire which should take between 10 and 15 minutes. The survey will close w/e 19 April 2013.

The BSA Sociology of Religion Study Group invites postgraduates to enter the 2013 Peter B Clarke Memorial Prize (posted 19/03/2013)
Essays on any aspect of contemporary religion written from a sociological perspective are welcome.

The winner of the prize will receive:

a cheque for £100 (sponsored by Taylor & Francis)
a £50 voucher for books from Taylor & Francis (sponsored by Routledge)
a year's subscription to the Journal of Contemporary Religion

If the judges decide that there is a runner-up, the second prize is a cheque for £50 (sponsored by Taylor & Francis).

The winner will have the opportunity to publish his/her essay in the Journal of Contemporary Religion (JCR), subject to the JCR’s normal peer review. Find out more >>

Call for Strategic Advisors for Data Resources at ESRC (posted 07/03/2013)

The ESRC are pleased to announce a call for Strategic Advisors for Data Resources.

The data landscape has evolved considerably over recent years and to reflect this the ESRC are seeking to appoint a consortium of advisors to provide strategic advice on the following areas to enable them to respond fully to current and future challenges:

Administrative data
Social media
Business data
Longitudinal studies
Biosocial research
UK Strategy for Data Resources for Social and Economic Research 2013 - 2018

This is an exciting opportunity to provide strategic leadership and exercise fundamental influence over the delivery of key data resources across the UK social science community. Applications are sought from consortiums based at UK research organisations eligible for ESRC funding, consisting of three to five senior applicants who between them have the knowledge and skills to cover the above areas. The appointments are for 36 months and each applicant will need to devote up to a 20 per cent time commitment to the role.

Please can you pass this information on to whoever you feel may be interested in applying for these roles. If you have any questions or would like any further information, please contact Sarah Werts via email or on 01793 41 3199.

Sociology is seeking Editorial Board members (posted 18/09/12)

BSA journal Sociology is seeking seven (7) new members of the Sociology editorial board to serve for three years from January 2013 to end of December 2015. To apply, please review the Call for Applications and complete an Application Form. Deadline for applications: 25 September 2012.

Become a reviewer for Work, employment and society – join the Editorial Board (posted 18/09/12)

WES is seeking seven (7) new members of the WES editorial board to serve for three years from January 2013 to end of December 2015. To apply, please review the Call for Applications and complete an Application Form. Deadline for applications: 18 October 2012.

Sociology, Austerity and Economic Crisis - Guest edit a special issue of Sociology (posted 18/09/12)

The Editorial Board of Sociology invites proposals for a special issue on one or more of the following themes:
(1) Austerity and protest;
(2) The global economic crisis;
(3) The resurgence of rightwing populism and the reconfiguration of conservative movements.
Download the full call for tenders. Deadline for submissions: 8 October 2012.

Cost of Living website launched (Posted 12/09/2012)

The ‘Cost of Living’ site is for anyone interested in the politics, economics and sociology of health and health care. The aim is to provide a vibrant mix of topical comment pieces, analytical features, and contemporary reviews, related to health, medicine and health care.

The ‘Cost of Living’s’ strength lies in their unique blend of interdisciplinary perspectives on issues of concern to all who are interested in health and medicine.

Content will be informed by discussions of both enduring questions in health (such as health inequalities) and more immediate concerns (such as ongoing policy processes and practices). contributions are welcomed from all-comers.

The title of the blog ‘the cost of living’ is intended to reflect the changing social and political (as well as economic) costs that are associated with health, health care provision and welfare in the 21st century.

The editors are working in collaboration with the Medical Sociology Group of the British Sociological Association to provide this blog forum to enable engaged academics and members of the public to comment and reflect upon issues of the day.

Research database established (Posted 23/05/2012)
In order to expand the research activity within the School of Childhood and Education at University College Birmingham, the School has established a research database of Early Years, Young People and Family Service Providers who are interested in providing a locality for conducting research. The database will provide contact and reference points between academic staff, doctoral, and research active postgraduate students, and with institutions open to supporting related research activity. This has the potential to be constructive for all involved, as current government initiatives are calling for more ‘evidence-based practice’, and Universities are being encouraged to engage in vocationally-relevant research with practitioners. It is anticipated that this exciting project will provide the initial contact for potentially mutually-beneficial projects.

To reiterate, the database will provide a contact point only, it contains only the main contact name and details of current interested establishments, and an outline of the details of the main service provided. Prospective researchers will be able to contact UCB which will use the database to find institutions or services matching their research requirements. Contact can then be made directly with institutions or via the UCB Research Team, if this is preferred.

Anyone interested in knowing more about the database can contact the Research and Knowledge Transfer Team on 0121 604 1000 x 2435 or email a.lally@ucb.ac.uk

Please visit our Latest News Archive for all news stories.

Return to Latest News homepage.