Take part in our project - ICSP Global Welfare Studies Survey

Take part in our Web Research Paper competition

View ICSP's online contribution on virtual event organised by SOSIG (20th-24th June 2005): "Social Sciences Online: Past, Present and Future"

To support teaching, study and research in the field of international and comparative social policy, ICSP has collated and categorised a range of resources. Select one of the following to view what it has to offer.

E-Learning Global Welfare

We are pleased to announce our successful funding application to the learning and teaching support network for Sociology, Anthropology and Politics (C-SAP) and the Globalism and Social Policy Programme to support the ICSP's'E-Learning Global Welfare' project from Autumn 2004 - 2005. The project is also supported by Sheffield University, Queen's University Belfast and SWAPsltsn.

The project aims to facilitate the development of learning and teaching resources in global welfare studies, an area distinctive due to its topicality, universal relevance and dynamism, and presents a focus for the productive input of a range of educational practitioners and students. The World Wide Web has clearly been of huge benefit in relation to the study of global welfare, most specifically in allowing access to material made available by a vast array of governmental and non-governmental organisations. However, the development of knowledge and understanding of global welfare policy can often be hampered by its comprehensiveness and limited by unfamiliarity with sources and uses of information. By developing e-resources which can address a significant frustration experienced by students (and lecturers) of global welfare i.e. the difficulty in identifying, locating, accessing and making effective use of relevant and up to date sources of information, specific documents and statistical data, the project aims to contribute to the promotion of global welfare studies. Specifically, this entails developing the following:

a free, subject specific virtual library for use by lecturers and students who will be able to access and download a range of governmental and non-governmental policy, research and statistical documents from this central source.

rendering accessible to students various datasets deriving from international or national governmental organisations and statistical and research agencies and programmes. We intend that exercises can be developed which are similar to those used in some 'research methods' teaching which employ national datasets such as the BHPS and UK Census. The practical use of international datasets in this way can support the broader quantitative work undertaken by students through increasing both general statistical understanding and critical appreciation of statistics, as well as specific knowledge and understanding of methods of definition and collection of international data and the measurement of indicators of global welfare.

pooling a range of pedagogic ideas, methods and activities on the ICSP website (currently at http://www.globalwelfare.net/). We will be drawing on tried-and-tested models to stimulate the interest of students (and others) in global welfare issues and suitable for use in workshops/tutorial-based learning activities.

Over the longer-term these will help build the website into a valuable pedagogic and research resource that facilitates the identification, navigation and practical use of a range of sources and types of information in global welfare studies. We hope to draw on the knowledge and expertise of those of you who are teaching and researching in this subject area. The success of the interactive on-line tests and activities, e-library, e-datasets and the facilitation of inter-disciplinary learning will depend on the active and constructive participation of lecturers and students in the development of each of these items proposed. If you (or your students) would like to contribute to the project in some way, however small or large, on an ad hoc basis or more regularly, please contact us at ICSP@sheffield.ac.uk. All contributions to the development of this communal resource will be appreciated and, more specifically, acknowledged on the ICSP website. We look forward to hearing from you!

Nicola Yeates and Zoe Irving, ICSP co-convenors

The International Comparative Social Policy collaborates with:

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Last updated 16/08/05