What Works Scotland has secured funding for an extra year. This will allow us to consolidate and further spread the learning that we have learnt from our collaborations with organisations and individuals from across the public sector in Scotland.
WWS co-director becomes new Director of Policy Scotland
What Works Scotland co-director Professor Chris Chapman is taking on a new role as Director of Policy Scotland.
International advisers call for culture of collaboration in Scottish education
The initial report from the First Minister of Scotland’s International Council of Educational Advisors (ICEA) has highlighted the need to focus on cultural change and capacity-building as well as structural reform.
Policy lessons from health taxes: a systematic review of empirical studies
What Works Scotland PhD student Alex Wright has co-authored a paper about taxes on alcohol, tobacco and other unhealthy products. It contains a systematic review of the research on health taxes, and aims to generate insights into how such taxes can: reduce
Sharing our findings from new approach to police-community engagement
What Works Scotland is sharing its findings from a trial of a ‘mini-public’ process to enable communities and public services to interact more meaningfully. What Works Scotland joined forces with police, fire and council services in the North East of Scotland to experiment with a citizens’ jury .
WWS evidence about mini-publics used in parliamentary reform report
The Report on the Scottish Parliament, published this week by the Commission on Parliamentary Reform, includes ideas for democratic innovation based on research and evidence from What Works Scotland.
Spotlight on capabilities and health inequalities
The latest Maurice Bloch lecture at Glasgow University’s Institute of Health and Wellbeing was given by Dr Sridhar Venkatapuram, who spoke on Why Health Capability? The necessity for conceptual clarity in pursuing health justice, and chaired by What Works Scotland research associate Richard Brunner.
New project on how communities receive offenders ‘coming home’ after punishment
What Works Scotland Co-director Oliver Escobar is contributing his expertise in participative and deliberative democracy to a new project that is challenging views of offender rehabilitation. The collaborative action research project is called Coming Home.
New centre for UK housing evidence set up by WWS Co-director
What Works Scotland co-director Ken Gibb, is setting up a new UK-wide collaborative research centre focused on using evidence to influence future housing policy.
Three internships with GCPH and WWS exploring a future healthier social protection system
Apply for one of three internships available with What Works Scotland and Glasgow Centre for Population Health (GCPH) to support the exchange of ideas, debate and fresh thinking among a diverse range of stakeholders engaged with the centres’ programmes of work, particularly the poverty, disadvantage and the economy work programme.