Impact

Project Resilience

In an age of financial austerity the UK economy is under severe strain as it seeks to rebalance the public finances. To achieve this, the current government has decided to follow a programme of economic reforms, which involve public spending cuts, and reducing the size of the public sector in the UK in particular. Whilst cuts in public spending have drawn much media attention in the UK, the government contends that the effects of reducing the size of the public sector will be offset by growth in the private sector. However, much less attention has been paid to how the government intends to generate this growth in the UK economy through private sector initiatives. This project, led by Tim Vorley and Peter Rodgers from the Centre for Regional Economic and Enterprise Development seeks to address these topics by addressing important questions about the nature and practicalities of economic resilience, by focusing on the nature of entrepreneurialism, work and enterprise.

 

Realising Early Achievement in Literacy

Professor Cathy Nutbrown has recently been awarded an ESRC grant to communicate the results of her internationally recognised research on early years literacy, The REAL Project. REAL began in 1995 in Sheffield and brought together the University, the local education authority and many Sheffield schools to promote family literacy work with parents of preschool children. The current project aims to improve literacy through ensuring that the REAL research is fully understood by practitioners, teachers and families. A range of activities, including a major conference and several residential courses will take place until April 2012 to help ensure that the research has a major impact on the lives of children throughout the country.