Previous Academic Fellows

Dr Lucy J Griffiths (Swansea University) produced a paper on the Welsh Government's draft Healthy Weight: Healthy Wales plan for the Children, Young People and Education Committee, focussing on how well it meets the challenges of getting more children and young people active in Wales. Dr Griffiths also wrote a briefing on physical activity levels and behaviours in this population, using data from the Millennium Cohort Study, to help the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee's Plenary debate on this subject.

Dr Griffiths produced the article 'Measuring up: the Movement of Children in Wales' with Professor Gareth Stratton of Swansea University in June 2019.

Following publication of the draft National Development Framework (NDF) in August 2019, Professor Ludi Simpson, Professor of Population Studies at the University of Manchester completed an independent review of the Welsh Government’s estimates of housing need and housing need and demand by tenure that were used by the Welsh Government to inform the draft NDF. 

Ludi Simpson’s work in sub-national demography for planning includes local and national government, advice at planning inquiries, research and teaching. He is designer and adviser to the publicly-owned POPGROUP software, the planning industry standard for local demographic projection of population and housing.

Through the fellowship scheme he produced a report on the technical aspects of the population and housing projections and the range of housing numbers that was used by the Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee in its scrutiny work on the draft NDF. 

Professor Simpson’s report; Demographic projections and planning – a collaborative partnership has now been published.

Dr Sarah Nason (Bangor University) will examine, and make recommendations to enhance, the Senedd's role in scrutinising the developing Welsh system of administrative justice.  This system is made up of various different bodies (including tribunals, complaint handlers, commissioners, courts and more), it is concerned with the laws surrounding public body decision-making, the resolution of disputes between individuals and public bodies, and how these can be learnt from to improve public services provision.

The four objectives of the fellowship are to:

• improve awareness of administrative justice and its connection to the constituency work of Members of the Senedd
• research and report on options for ensuring greater accountability of administrative justice institutions to the Senedd
• research and report on how a consistent approach can be taken to matters of administrative justice in Senedd legislation
• examine connections between administrative justice principles and human rights in Wales informing discussions around a developing Welsh human rights law and Senedd oversight of human rights issues.

Dr Nason's blog article Ensuring Fair and Lawful Administration in Wales: the Role of Administrative Justice was published in October 2019. A blog on The Senedd and Administrative Justice was published in July 2020.

Dr Filippos Proedrou (University of South Wales) produced a report addressing the the climate policy gap in Wales. This framed climate policy within overall Welsh public policy, strategy for the future and legal framework of the Future Generations Act. It used evidence and best cases from around the world and recalibrated current proposals to maximise their input into future carbon budgets. He also scrutinised some of the repercussions Brexit could have to bear on Welsh climate policy.

Dr Proedrou's Research Briefing on Addressing the climate policy gap in Wales was published in July 2019.

Dr David Dallimore (Bangor University) undertook research to inform a series of briefing papers and a report on the integration of early childhood education and care. The project focused on addressing a number of key questions:

• How has early childhood education and care (ECEC) developed in Wales?
• What are the current conceptual, policy and legislative foundations of ECEC?
• How does ECEC in Wales compare with systems in othe countries?
• What legislative, regulatory, structural and conceptual barriers exist to further developing access to ECEC in Wales?

Dr Dallimore produced the first in a series of Research Papers, 'Early Childhood and Care in Wales: an introduction' (PDF, 1134KB) in May 2019. This was followed by a second Research Paper, 'Early Childhood Education and Care: Quality Matters' (PDF, 875KB) in July 2019. Dr Dallimore's third Research Paper 'Early Childhood Education and Care: Policy Development' (PDF, 1500KB) followed in September 2019.

David wrote a Senedd Research blog in January 2020, outlining his experiences as part of the Fellowship Scheme

Dr Gareth Enticott (Cardiff University) provided an evidence base for the future scrutiny of the Welsh Government's emerging 'refreshed' programme of Bovine TB eradication.  The project reviewed and gathered evidence on the following three elements (work packages):

• The opportunities for different governance models to contribute to tackling bovine TB in Wales.
• The lessons that can be learned from successful international bovine TB eradication schemes.
• The challenges facing the veterinary profession in light of the UK's decision to leave the European Union and its potential implications for bovine TB in Wales.

Dr Enticott produced the following research papers: Bovine TB in Wales: governance and risk (PDF, 843KB) and Brexit implications for Bovine TB in Wales (PDF, 378KB). Academic Research Paper published in April 2019.

Professor Nick Perdikis (Aberystwyth University) produced a report investigating the question: what is the likely impact of the UK's departure from the EU on the Welsh economy, including impact on the key sectors. 

This covers a range of plausible Brexit scenarios, such as the "no deal", or trading on WTO‑terms option, and membership of the European Economic Area.

Professor Perdikis published the following report (PDF, 1.991Mb) outlining the findings.

Dr Catrin Hedd Jones (Bangor University) provided an evidence base for the future scrutiny of the Welsh Government's policies and programmes, and services for people living with dementia and their carers.  In particular she gathered evidence on:

• Dementia and its impact on health inequalities.
• The evidence of effective and efficient spending commitments, identifying examples of best practice in dementia care across Wales and Internationally in line with the principles and actions set in the WHO Global Action Plan on Dementia (2017-2025).

Dr Jones produced two research papers: Access to dementia services for bilingual (Welsh and English) residents (PDF, 3,496KB), and Global and National perspective on Dementia (PDF,  3,383KB).

Dr Alex Plows (Bangor University) produced a report to contribute to the evidence base for the future scrutiny of the Welsh Government’s approach to developing the north Wales economy. The project gathered evidence on:

• The opportunities and threats for jobs and growth presented both within north Wales.
• The interventions required to exploit these opportunities to the fullest.
• Models of international comparative/best practice in regional and cross-border development.
• Thoughts on alternative, complementary economic approaches/developments.

An In Brief blog post that summarised Dr Plows' findings was published in July 2017.  Her full report is available here (PDF, 862.19 KB).