INFORMATION & UPDATES Publications


Religion, Civil Society & Peace in Northern Ireland


Many commentators deny the churches a role in Northern Ireland’s peace process, focusing on the few well-known events of church involvement and the small number of high-profile religious peace builders. This ESRC-funded study seeks to correct misapprehensions about the role of the churches by pointing to their major achievements in both the social and political dimensions of the peace process. n Religion, Civil Society & Peace in Northern Ireland by John D. Brewer, Gareth I. Higgins, and Francis Teeney. ISBN 978019 9694020 (hardback), 272pp, £60.00. For more


information see ukcatalogue. oup.com/ product/ 9780199 694020.do


Happiness


Richard Layard, from the ESRC-funded Centre for Economic Performance, shows that there is a paradox at the heart of our lives. Most people want more income yet as societies become richer, they do not become happier. This is not just anecdotally true, it is the story told by countless pieces of scientific research. We now have sophisticated ways of measuring how happy people are, and all the evidence shows that on average people have grown no happier in the last 50 years, even as average incomes have more than doubled. n Happiness by Richard Layard. ISBN 9780241 952795,


(paperback), 384pp, £9.99. For more


information see www.penguin. co.uk/nf/Book/ BookDisplay/ 0,,97802419 52795,00.html


Leadership and the reform of education


Western politicians consider that leadership is essential for the delivery of educational reform. This book, based on ESRC-funded research, examines how leaders, leading and leadership became the dominant theme in education. It presents an analysis of the relationship between the state, public policy and the types of knowledge that New Labour used to make policy and break professional cultures. It is essential reading for all those interested in public policy, education policy, and debates about governance. n Leadership and the reform of education by Helen M. Gunter. ISBN 9781847427663 (paperback), 208pp, £17.95. For more


information see www.policypress. co.uk/display. asp?K=97818 47427663


Young people in post- conflict Northern Ireland


This multi-faceted study of young people’s lives and communities is a reminder that making a difference requires us to work across all parts of their lives, not just on those issues that most powerfully present themselves. The study is based on the Young Life and Times (YLT) annual postal survey of approximately 2,000 16-year-olds, which has been systematically collecting information since 1998. YLT is one of the key activities of ARK, an ESRC-funded joint initiative by the two Northern Irish universities. Reliable, robust and ongoing, it monitors changes in attitudes and behaviour over time. n Young people in post-conflict Northern Ireland by Dirk Schubotz and Paula Devine. ISBN 9781905541348 (paperback),


144pp, £14.95. For more information see www.


russellhouse.co.uk


EVENTS 23-24 APRIL


Genomics in Society: facts, fictions and cultures


A conference organised by the ESRC Centre for Genomics in Society (Egenis) will present the scope of research excellence in the social sciences of current bioscience innovation and celebrate a decade of academic achievement. There are great expectations that the life sciences, including genomics, are ideally positioned to deliver solutions to global challenges relating to health, food and energy. Simultaneously, policymakers and the public are concerned about social changes and the protection of ethical goods on the one hand, and cultural and institutional obstacles to the delivery of the benefits from the life sciences on the other. For more information see www.genomicsnetwork.ac.uk/egenis/ conference2012


2-5 MAY


European Research on Emotion Conference


The Emotion Regulation of Others and Self team will hold a symposium at the conference titled ‘The effortful and exhausting nature of emotion regulation’. This conference is suitable for scholars in all disciplines carrying out research and empirically relevant theory on the topic of emotion. The event will include four parallel talk sessions, several poster sessions, social events, and four outstanding keynote talks. For more information see www.erosresearch. org/index.php/events/Consortium_of_ European_Research_on_Emotion_ CERE_ Conference


17-18 MAY


Music, Methods and the Social: A Research Workshop


Trying to understand music as a social form raises the issue of methods. This is partly because of the ubiquity of music. Yet it is clear that to understand why music matters to people so profoundly we need a grasp both of the social, and the ways that music works as organised sound. The aim of a workshop organised by the Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change is to gather, think and talk together about particular ways of finding out and articulating the complex relationships between music and the social. For more information see www.cresc.ac.uk/ events/ music-methods-and-the-social-a- research-workshop


SPRING 2011 SOCIETY NOW 31 SPRING 2012


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