Projects

Recent quantitative research undertaken by the Royal Academy of Engineering and Engineering UK identified that women were more likely than men to leave engineering at the mid-career stage. This qualitative study commissioned by the Academy aims to better understand the issues affecting women’s retention in engineering and opportunities to improve their retention, with a particular focus on how identity and intersecting characteristics impact women throughout their careers. The study includes career narrative interviews with up to 30 women, non-binary and gender-nonconforming individuals in their mid-career who are/were working in engineering roles. It will be supported by a short literature review and two workshops with expert stakeholders.

Data analysis to support the evaluation of Sutton Trust's main outreach programmes - UK Summer Schools and Pathways to the Professions. It involved analysis of ST applicant data to identify matched comparator groups of unsuccessful applicants to the programmes to support the analysis of UCAS Outreach Evaluation data on university applications, and analysis of HESA student data on successful participants and unsuccessful applicants to explore difference in HE access and success.

We are providing subject area expertise and interviewing research resource to assist a qualitative project. The project aims to understand employer practices in dismissals and fire and rehire, and their understanding of, approach to and views of planned changes in the UK legislation on unfair dismissal and fire and rehire.

Labour market analysis support for West London Alliance/West London Business for the renewal of their Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP), providing an update to the labour market analysis work of a few years ago in support of the original development of the LSIP. The work will focus on priority sectors in the West London labour market.

The phase 2 evaluation of DBT's Help to Grow: Management programme follows on from the 4-year phase 1 evaluation that ran until 2025. For phase 2, IES will continue to be subcontracted by Ipsos to lead the qualitative strand of the evaluation. The IPE will run until December 2026 with a possible extension to 31 December 2029, and involves interviews with around 55 stakeholders (e.g. programme participants, mentors and business schools) each year which feed into annual reports.

The multi-year, qualitative evaluation of the GLA's Adult Skills Fund (ASF) will explore the ASF's contribution to the GLA's strategic priorities set out in the Skills Roadmap for London, and the Inclusive Talent Strategy. The work is intended to provide an evidence base for the ongoing development of the GLA's policies related to the ASF, to inform future arrangements for the management of the ASF and strengthen the GLA's policy positions.

Implementation and process evaluation of the Embedded Maths, which is one of the interventions devised through the Multiply project researching adult maths skills. The Embedded Maths trial integrates Level 1 maths concepts into the curricula of Health & Social Care (H&SC) Level 2 qualifications (certificate or diploma programmes). The intervention has adapted Functional Skills Level 1 maths concepts to align with the application of maths in H&SC jobs. This project will look at how this trial has been implemented and delivered within two adult education providers.

This research project aims to understand whether, when and how unfair treatment and discrimination relating to pregnancy, maternity and other kinds of parental leave are manifesting in the workplace. It is a mixed-methods study examining labour market outcomes of pregnant women, mothers and parents on other forms of leave alongside qualitative interviews with mothers, parents, and employers to understand their lived experiences, awareness of rights and good practices organisations are implementing to minimise unfair treatment and discrimination. Findings from this research will inform policy development by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT).

We are researching flexibility options for AE pensions for lower paid workers, interviewing experts and employers and developing a policy paper and employer toolkit to help support lower paid workers in pension decisions.