Skip to main content
Sally Power

Professor Sally Power

WISERD Co-director

School of Social Sciences

Email
PowerS3@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 29208 74738
Campuses
sbarc|spark, Room Room 3.40, Maindy Road, Cathays, Cardiff, CF24 4HQ
Comment
Media commentator

Overview

I am  Co-Director of WISERD (Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data), which is a collaborative venture between the  universities of Abersytwth, Bangor, Cardiff, South Wales and Swansea. We work together to improve the quality and quantity of social science research in Wales and beyond. WISERD is also a key partner of Cardiff University's SPARK - the world's first social science research park.

Within WISERD, my main area of research expertise is in education and its significance for civil society, social mobility and inequality. I am co-director of the WISERDEducation Multi-Cohort Study which tracks young people's experiences as they progress through schools in Wales.

Publication

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

Articles

Book sections

Books

Conferences

Monographs

Other

Research

Over the years I have undertaken a wide range of research projects on various aspects of education and inequality. These include evaluations for a range of policy-makers (Welsh Government, Scottish Executive, UK Cabinet Office), voluntary sector associations (Shelter, Field Studies Council) and the UK Research Council (ESRC).

I am currently involved in two major ESRC programmes of research. As part of the WISERD Civil Society Centre, I am participating in two projects, one on children's rights and one on elites and patronage in civil society. I'm also a Co-Investigator on a collaborative ESRC award that explores school exclusions across the four jurisdications of the United Kingdom.

Teaching

Most of my work entails research, but I make contributions to the following courses:

  • Doctoral courses on professionalism and work, education policy and social contexts of education.
  • Masters courses in education policy and education research.

Biography

Prior to joining the School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, in 2004 as a Professorial Fellow, I was based at the UCL Intitute of Education, where I was Head of the School of Educational Foundations and Policy Studies and Director of the Education Policy Research Unit. Before that, I worked at the Universities of Bristol, Warwick and the West of England.

Professional memberships

  • Academy of Social Sciences
  • British Educational Research Assocation
  • British Sociological Association
  • Society for Longitudinal and Lifecourse Studies
  • Society for Educational Studies

Academic positions

  • Head of the School of Educational Foundations and Policy Studies, Institute of Education, University of London (until 2004)
  • Lecturer, Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol
  • Research Officer, School of Education, University of Warwick