On the 30th of November and 1st of December 2021, the IWA held a two-day summit on the future of the Welsh economy. In this episode, our policy team, Will Henson, Harry Thompson, and Dr Jack Watkins, look back on the event and discuss some of its key moments. The first section looks at our Q&As with Vaughan Gething MS, Minister for Economy in the Welsh Government, and Neil O’Brien MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Levelling Up, The Union and Constitution at the Department...

Co-written with Welsh consultancy firm The Means, this report draws on original research and the Understanding Welsh Places online tool to explore how Welsh places responded to Covid-19. We use stories from communities across Wales to understand how residents used local facilities and assets during the crisis, and what we learned about Welsh places’ preparedness to respond to an event of this scale. We then make recommendations about how the Welsh government and local authorities can invest...

At this free online event, attendees heard about our latest report, part of our project on the Foundational Economy, funded by CREW. Produced in collaboration with The Means, a consultancy working on economic regeneration across the UK, our report outlines how regulations and their enforcement can disproportionately impact small and medium sized businesses, making it hard for new firms to enter established markets and to expand. Hear more about the series of recommendations we make of how...

This event discusses the surge in volunteering during the Covid-19 pandemic.

This event, jointly organised by the Media Reform Coalition and the Institute of Welsh Affairs, is part of ‘The BBC and Beyond’, an MRC campaign which aims to reimagine public media for the digital age. The event focusses on what a reformed public service media landscape within Wales could look like. The BBC has set out its strategic goal to recreate itself as a ‘truly UK wide organisation (…) decentralising power and decision-making across the four nations’. But a healthy media landscape...

This event discusses changes to how communities in Wales are using banking services, and explores the possibilities of more community-oriented models.One of the most dramatic changes to Welsh high streets in the last decade has been the decline of banking, with the closure of just over 40% of bank branches leaving customers and businesses struggling to manage their cash.In this edition of our Rethinking Wales series, we explore the reasons behind this change and what can be done to ensure...

“If you can’t afford a bike, having the freedom to go cycling doesn’t mean anything.”This event discusses access to sport for Welsh communities and how the pandemic has exacerbated inequalities.Whilst elite sport has been able to continue fairly uninterrupted since the first wave, we examine the public’s access to sport and exercise, and explore how inequalities have manifested themselves.We explore inequalities of access to sports equipment and facilities, what effect this has had on regular...

The Welsh Places Charter has been created by the Welsh Places Influencing Group, convened by the IWA. We are a coalition of organisations, practitioners, and academics passionate about creating a Wales in which people’s social, economic, environmental and cultural wellbeing is at the centre of our communities.It is clear that the way in which we live and work will not be the same as we emerge from the pandemic and big questions need to be asked about what we need to do to ensure that our...

We look at the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic on the results, the impact of young people being given the right to vote for the first time and whether the electoral landscape of Wales has shifted in the wake of the results.

Facing less secure work and high house prices – especially in coastal areas – it could be argued that young people today in Wales are less well-off relative to their elders than any generation since WWII. This calls for a radical reorientation of public policy to favour the young.

Our panel of transport experts and local leaders discussed how to create a region-wide travel network that works for everybody who lives and works in the capital. Is it time for Cardiff to have a congestion charge? What are the politics of big changes to the transport system? The panel explore the challenges and opportunities for transport in the Cardiff City Region as we move from the Covid-19 crisis and towards the ‘new normal’. We looked at plans for the region and delved into what...

During this panel discussion we hear from people with a learning disability about their experiences during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, specifically in regards to relationships and connections.Mencap Cymru have been collecting oral histories which show how important friendships and relationships are for people, often supporting our identity and validation of our worth.However, there remain significant challenges for people with learning disabilities when it comes to connecting with...

This report presents an analysis of policy and practice in business support in Wales and its impacts on the Welsh economy. We argue that business support needs to be reoriented to be more accessible to firms in the foundational economy, and that doing so will have both economic and social benefits. This launch event will include a presentation of our findings and recommendations, along with an opportunity for questions, comments and debate with our audience. We want this report to be the...

To understand the ongoing impact of the pandemic on individuals, work, the community and the world around us, we need to listen to people’s experiences. That is why the Institute of Welsh Affairs and the Wales Co-operative Centre, alongside 8 other partner organisations, launched a new initiative to gather these stories using the online storytelling tool Sensemaker®. This event launches a second report on our findings and outlines why this unique method of collecting people’s unfiltered...

The topic of this discussion is proposed changes to GCSEs and qualifications for 16 year olds as part of the ongoing reform of the curriculum.  How can assessment remain robust whilst supporting the curriculum’s radical vision? How can the new curriculum balance freedom for teachers with public expectations about content, including on Welsh history and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic history? We explore what these changes will mean for learners and teachers, and drawing on lessons learned...

This Rethinking Wales is led by the Bevan Commission and will explore health and care challenges in vulnerable communities and the mental health impacts of Covid-19.

The IWA Cardiff Media Summit 2021 is a series of four events focusing on the new landscape for media in Wales.

From April 2022 all of S4C’s public funding will come from the licence fee. With the discussion over the funding settlement for 2022 to 2027 underway, journalist Guto Harri interviews S4C Chief Executive, Owen Evans.

This, the third event in the series, will focus on news in Wales.

This, the second event in the series, will look at the screen sector in Wales.

The first event ‘The State of Play’ will look at the headline findings from the IWA’s 2020 Media Audit and will be followed by a panel discussion looking at the new, post-Covid, landscape for media in Wales.

Statistics show that after the first wave, excess deaths in England were 46% higher than last year, and in Wales only 26% higher, but should we have set a far higher bar for our response than just ‘being better than England’?

The Live Learning Partnership is the Institute of Welsh Affairs and the Wales Co-operative Centre, alongside 8 other partner organisations, who are launching a new initiative to gather experiences using the online storytelling tool Sensemaker®.

With lockdowns increasing across the UK and winter on its way, how stretched are our public services and the people who keep them functioning on a daily basis?

We invited Ken Skates MS, Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales, to hear views and take questions from representatives of businesses across Wales.