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Research and discussion groups

Social science and general Economics Politics Sociology History

National Academic Mailing List, known as JISCmail - index to lists
Please let me know if you come across something which you think might usefully be added to this page.

10 recommended economics blogs
The Digital Britain discussion forum was launched by staff from the Digital Britain steering board based in two Uk government departments BERR (Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform) and DCMS (Department for Culture, Media and Sport) in 2009. It aims to discuss with the public and stakeholders issues arising from the Digital Britain Report. Issues covered by this include: digital delivery of public services (egovernment), broadband Internet access, innovation, investment and quality in the digital and communications industries. (Digital TV and digital radio). The website provides free access to the full text of the original report, plus online and blogs videos from officials discussing it and feedback from participants in the discussion forum.
Social science and general [top of page]
ESRC Research Centres and Groups are national focal points for social science research where academics can collaborate on long-term projects. Centres are normally funded for ten years. Research Groups are very similar to Research Centres in involving a concentrated grouping of researchers at one or two institutions but are funded only for five years.
The ESRC hosts forums for ad hoc discussions that cover general topics
EVIDENCE-USE This is a cross-disciplinary, cross-sectoral discussion list to enable academics and others concerned with the use of evidence in public sector policy and practice to network, debate, share ideas and exchange information. It has been set up by the Research Unit for Research Utilisation (RURU) at St. Andrews University - previously funded by the ESRC and a member of the ESRC's Network for Evidence-Based Policy and Practice - to facilitate national and international interchange in this field.
POSTDOC-ASSOC Discussion group of the UK's Association of Postdoctoral Researchers: for help, policy campaigning and the exchange of information about career opportunities, international research communities and research mobility.
The Radical Statistics group publish a journal which is available free of charge and in full online. The group defines itself thus: "We believe that statistics can be used to support radical campaigns for progressive social change. Statistics should inform, not drive policies. Social problems should not be disguised by technical language". The group was formed in 1975 by a collection of researchers and statisticians concerned about the political implications of their work and having an awareness of the actual and potential misuse of statistics generally. The group is independent and the journal is published privately. There is an e-mail discussion list available from this site as well as details of publications by the group.
The Research blogging website is run by a not for profit organisation whose purpose is to enable users to quickly identifiy high quality peer reviewed blogs and blog postings. It maintains subject based indexes and editors ensure that only those postings meeting their academic guidelines are accepted. A wide range of subject areas from the humanities, social sciences and sciences are covered. Individual entries often focus on reviews and comment relating to scholarly journal articles, citations are given and links through to the blogs where they were posted. It is possible to sign up to receive RSS feeds of new additions to the website.
SIMSOC This list is for announcements, news and discussion related to the use of computer simulation in the social sciences, including approaches based on micro-simulation and multi-agent modelling.
SOCBB : A general list for the UK sociological community, for announcements, calls for papers and job openings.
UK Data Archive news informs users of developments and seminars / conferences that may be of interest. The UK Data Archive (UKDA) is a resource centre that acquires, disseminates, preserves, and promotes the largest collection of digital data in the social sciences and humanities in the United Kingdom. Its primary aim is to support secondary use of quantitative and qualitative data for research and learning.

Economics [top of page]
Mailbase - economics lists
agric-econ is a list for the discussion of matters relating to research and teaching in the area of Agricultural Economics.
ARCHIVE-LMSUG A forum for academic researchers & teachers as well as others from local & central government offices interested in labour market statistics. It facilitates discussion on issues related to pay, earnings, employment & unemployment and provides feedback on official statistics to the ONS.
Drama Theory generalises game theory by applying the metaphor of drama to human interaction. Analysis focuses on how characters frame, resolve and are transformed by interactions. It embraces irrationality and emotions. Applications in peace studies, politics, psychology, economics and HCI.
EBAY-STUDIES This list is used for discussions about eBay-related research across disciplinary boundaries. The list is regarded as an undisciplined space for the discussion of a variety of eBay themes including (but not exclusively) eBay and... identity, community, social capital, collecting in an e-society, consumption, consumer lifestyles, employment effects, website design, usability, the 'real' economy, the 'perfect market' and representations of eBay. It aims to encourage interdisciplinary research and collaboration through a discussion of eBay-related ideas and ongoing research.
e-business list provides a network for researchers in the fields of electronic business, electronic commerce and Internet-related management research and developments
ECON-NETWORK. This list is for announcements and discussion related to the activities of the economics subject centre of the Learning and Teaching Support Network. The centre promotes high quality learning, teaching and assessment practices within the academic economics community.
ECON-SOC-DEVT Discussion of theory and practice in development studies broadly defined, including national economic growth, social and ethical development and related areas of political science, institution-building, development project to pics
econeval-social-welfare : To facilitate inter disciplinary co-operation and further discussion on the use of economic evaluation techniques in social welfare evaluation
Econometric Research is a forum for the discussion of applied and theoretical issues in econometrics and related fields. It also functions as a dissemination list for research resources such as conferences, seminars, academic jobs, free software etc.
Economic Research Network : A website dedicated to increasing communication among economics scholars, practitioners, and policymakers.
euro-econ is a network of European academic economic researchers funded by the EU to investigate the micro-economic roots of the macro-economic problems of growth, unemployment and inequality. Emphasis is placed on the quantitative analysis of innovation data amongst companies, establishments and workers.
Financial Economics Network - This website is designed to increase and enhance communications among professionals interested in what is broadly defined as financial economics.
Free exchange is a blog produced by journalists working on The Economist Newspaper, Economist.com and the Economist Intelligence Unit. It covers the whole range of economic issues including fiscal policy, development economics and behavioural economics, as well as, the economic and political policy issues that feature in much of the work produced by The Economist Group. Users can comment on these short opinion pieces if they are registered users of Economist.com. The site includes an archive, a tag cloud of subjects covered and links to other recommended economics blogs.
Indecon is aimed primarily at all kinds of industrial economists. It should also appeal to academics with backgrounds in management, business, finance and industrial organisation, and those with specific interests in firm strategy and behaviour, market structure and the economics of regulation.
Mutuality-UK : To examine issues relating to the development and history of friendly societies, co-operation, workers and consumers co-operatives, credit unions, building societies and other mutuals. To exchange information about their origins, their links, their activities and their future.
OFFICIAL-STATISTICS is for announcements and discussion of any aspect of official statistics. It has links to the Official Statistic Committee of the Royal Statistical Society. The list welcomes contributions from the producers and users of official statistics as well as from members of the academic community.
The Palgrave Econolog is an economics blog aggregator. It surveys the content of more than 350 economics blogs, indexes them by topic and tracks traffic so that you can see at a glance what economists are reading and writing about, highlighting hot stories, papers, books and conferences. Users can filter the aggregated posts by type, review the list of blogs that are being aggregated, see a ranking of economics blogs based on links between economics blogs over the last 90 days and see the Zeitgeist view of hot topics being discussed by economics bloggers. A variety of RSS feeds are available for the different parts of the site.
SSFN : The "social studies of finance network" has been established to promote interdisciplinary scientific research on contemporary finance and financial markets. SSFN is the first step toward the constitution of an international network that could share resources and research results in the common field of social studies of finance. Our aim is to support the organization of periodic meetings between sociologists, economists and other social scientists and the constitution of collective research programs.
TelecomVisions.com was established by a group of academics at the University of Edinburgh, TelecomVisions.com is an independent, non-profit, interactive site focusing on a key question: What will happen to the Telecoms Industry and its companies in the Internet Age over the next five years?
The UACES Student Forum is the graduate student branch of of the University Association for Contemporary European Studies. Its web site provides information on the aims of the organisation, its membership and activities. It includes access to its newsletters, email discussion lists, online journal and some recent conference papers. Other features of the site include a research database providing information on researchers in European studies and conference calendars. All aspects of European studies are covered including, EU economics, European policy networks, EU integration, the politics of the European Union and economic and political transitions in Central and Eastern Europe.
Vox is a policy portal featuring research-based analysis and commentary from Europe's leading economists, that is produced by the Centre for Economic Policy Research. The primary intended audience is economists and users of economic research in governments, international organisations, academia and the private sector as well as journalists and commentators specialising in economics, finance and business. Vox provides access to short articles between 500 and 1500 words that are written at an analytical level that is higher than a typical newspaper column but very much more accessible than a journal article. Users can view the most recent articles, explore the archive by tag, subject, author or keyword search and subscribe to various RSS feeds. Registered users can comment on articles.

Politics [top of page]
Mailbase - politics lists
The American Prospect Online Forum is the spot for American Prospect and Policy Action readers to engage in lively discussions about politics, policy and culture.
am-political-marketing : A forum for all those engaged in political marketing research to share and communicate ideas, information, conference and event details. Political marketing as a topic includes lobbying, elections, referenda and campaign communication.
capital-and-class : The list will complement the journal 'Capital and Class' . The intention is to have a forum for open discussion of research and teaching issues around marxist political economy.
CHILDPOVERTY is an open discussion forum for those interested in research and policy relating to child poverty.
CNN YouTube presidential debates channel has been created by American broadcaster CNN to allow members of the American public to debate and discuss issues with candidates and political parties in the run up to the 2008 American presidential elections.It contains examples of video footage of political interviews, questions from the public and responses from candidates. Technical and copyright information is displayed on the website.
DSA-RSG is for the research student members of the Development Studies Association (DSA). The DSA brings together practitioners and academics working in International Development. The Research Students Group (RSG) organises conferences, study groups and training courses for postgrads.
Drama Theory generalises game theory by applying the metaphor of drama to human interaction. Analysis focuses on how characters frame, resolve and are transformed by interactions. It embraces irrationality and emotions. Applications in peace studies, politics, psychology, economics and HCI.
The ethnopolitics mailing list list aims to " ... encourage scholarly research and exchange between academics on issues related to (non-immigrant) ethnic minorities, minority rights, and the origin, development and settlement of ethnic conflicts." Keywords: ethnic minorities; minority rights; origin, development and settlement of ethnic conflicts
european-social-policy deals with social policy and social welfare issues in Europe, including the EU. Of interest to academics in social policy, sociology,economics, political science, law, public administration and other fields, and also to others involved in policy debate.
euroresearch : This list will be for all those interested in researching Europe and European Union affairs.
Forced Migration current awareness blog. This is a current awareness web blog maintained by information specialist Elisa Mason. It seeks to highlight current awareness issues in the field of forced migration. It is possible to view an archive of all postings from 2005 onwards.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office blog. An official website maintained by a British government department which provides a space where Foreign office government ministers, officials and leading civil servants can discuss current British government foreign policy and diplomacy with members of the public. It includes postings from David Miliband, Foreign Secretary. A wide range of foreign policy issues including relations with the European union are discussed. It also offers insight into the daily diaries and workings of the FCO.
Future of Europe debate (The European Union On-Line) : a discussion forum on the future development of the European Union.
Guardian Unlimited: Politics Talk offers a number of "talk boards" where the general public can post messages to online discussion boards to conduct national public debates on a wide range of issues. The Politics Talk Board page lists current discussions but also has an archive of previous ones, arranged by the area of politics such as "transport & the environment", "welfare state" and "Westminster & Whitehall". Being part of the online version of a major UK broad sheet newspaper, the discussion boards are busy and up to the minute.
The Global Politics Network is an international internet platform where a community of critically-minded students as well as young professionals from all over the world can 'meet' to exchange ideas and theories, read and publish innovative and exciting papers in a new internet journal dedicated to global politics.
The Hansard Society provides public space for the debate of issues concerning parliamentary democracy in the UK.
The Independent Asylum Commission is conducting a review of the British asylum and immigration system and the treatment of asylum seekers in the Uk during 2007/8. Its website provides information on its aims, remit, membership and activities. It includes access to press releases and the Citizenspeak online discussion and consultation forum which it launched in 2008 in order to allow members of the public to express their viewpoints about the system.
Information Technology and Politics Wiki Database is sponsored by the Information Technology and Politics section of the American Political Science Association and hosted by the Harvard-MIT Data Center. It is intended as a collaborative effort to provide a research database of people, projects and news relating to all aspects of the study of politics and information technology. This includes links to full text papers and reports. Users are also encouraged to post press releases, conference announcements and job and research opportunities to the site. All aspects of online politics are covered including: electronic government, political communication online, digital government.
NASPIR is a network of International Relations and Politics scholars and researchers who support social justice and non-violent action against oppression. This is their email discussion forum which is an excellent starting point for tracing information on radical politics and political activism. It regularly highlights news websites, conferences and publications. Topics covered have included criticism of the war in Iraq, anarchism, social movements and civil disobedience. There is also regularly posted radical and alternative media commentary on world events. It is possible to view all messages since 2003 on the website. Message posting requires registration.
New-Towns : Britain's new town programme demonstrated successes in planning, social, economic, and financial spheres. Does growth of unemployment and need for sustainable urban development make new town ideas irrelevant? Can other countries learn from British experience? The list will discuss such questions.
Opportunity 08 was created as a special project of the Brookings Institution in association with ABC news. It aims to encourage discussion about what the American electorate want from the next president prior to the 2008 presidential elections. The site is divided into a number of home and foreign policy areas, containing discussion and position papers from experts on each issue. Topics are wide ranging including: education, health, immigration and employment. The large foreign policy section includes coverage of US foreign policy towards Iraq, the Middle East and homeland security issues.
The Policy Action Network - A consortium of American public policy organizations and advocacy groups whose members provide information on topics ranging from economic policy to civic participation, health care to foreign policy, and education to Social Security.
Politalk aims to support moderated email discussions on important social and political issues. It focuses on specific topics for a limited period of time, inviting guest commentators to offer expert opinion on the issues and add depth to the discussion. Typical subject areas covered include: globalization, elections, public sector services, election campaign finance, war and terrorism. A recent innovation of the site is a series of discussions aimed at transatlantic dialogue.
POLITICAL-ECONOMY-RN is an official mailinglist of the Political Economy Research Network of the European Sociological Association
Political Podcasts is maintained by the Guardian newspaper. It enables users to sign up to receive news feeds of the latest UK Prime Ministers Question Time and Guardian newspaper political interviews with MPs, politicians and political commentators. Topics covered include all aspects of UK parliamentary activity, political policy and politics.
Politics of privacy blog maintained by political science academic Andreas Busch which provides timely comment and analysis on issues relating to governance and politics of privacy. Key topics covered include the extent and nature of surveillance in modern society, the political economy of privacy, identity theft and personal data, civil liberties and information technology security. Reference is made to current news stories, legislation and recent reports.
Politics on demand. This site provides free access to a growing collection of podcasts relating to British politics. They include examples of political interviews, political journalism and podcasts made by British MPs. All aspects of British politics and current affairs are covered.
QUALMETH Listserv is an electronic discussion list for political scientists and other interested scholars who are interested in discussing, applying or critiquing qualitative research methods. It is maintained by the Consortium on Qualitative Research Methods (USA) and regularly analyses and discusses the value and use of the methods, announces job and research opportunities; reviews recent books and engages in online discussions on specific issues.
Scotland's future: a national conversation was created by the Scottish Parliament in 2007 to encourage discussion about the constitutional future of Scotland. It includes access to the full text of the paper Scotland's Future (published in August 2007) which discusses extending Scottish devolution, the future role of Scottish government and possible Scottish independence. Other features include press releases, discussion forums and blogs.
SpinWatch is a UK based project of academics, journalists and researchers who seek to raise public awareness about the use of spin doctors and manipulation of the media by government and big business. Its web site provides access to news stories and articles relating to these issues. It also supports public discussion forums.

Technorati: politics Technorati tracks millions of web blogs and tagged social media websites providing news updates, articles and data on the latest trends. This section monitors politics blogs and news sites. It is possible to read the latest posts from political blogs and to look at materials relating to the most popular topics in political blogs, most widely used tags and rising issues from political bloggers. Sites monitored include important news agencies, as well as individual home pages.

TERRORISM-RESEARCH This list draws together academics from any discipline researching into all aspects of terrorism, counter-terrorism and related matters. It is intended to stimulate academic research, debate and interdisciplinary work.
The UACES Student Forum is the graduate student branch of of the University Association for Contemporary European Studies. Its web site provides information on the aims of the organisation, its membership and activities. It includes access to its newsletters, email discussion lists, online journal and some recent conference papers. Other features of the site include a research database providing information on researchers in European studies and conference calendars. All aspects of European studies are covered including, EU economics, European policy networks, EU integration, the politics of the European Union and economic and political transitions in Central and Eastern Europe.

Wonkosphere is a service of Crawdad Technologies LLC. It tracks thousands of US political blogs and websites using algorithms to provide regularly updated reports on the most popular and important current postings. During 2008 it is tracking news relating to the 2008 American presidential elections. It has reports on postings relating to all the main candidates, hot links to the latest news and graphs of 'buzz share' which record the amount and types of messages devoted to specific candidates.

Sociology [top of page]
Mailbase - sociology lists
Ageing is the mailing list of the ESA Research Network on Ageing in Europe. Purposes of the list include sharing information on conferences and publications; exchanging ideas relevant to research on ageing; making contact with potential collaborators on new research initiatives.
The AskPhilosophers.org web site was created in 2005 and is currently hosted by Amherst College. It aims to enable students and members of the public to put philosophical questions to trained philosophy researchers and academics. An academic panel composed of representatives from universities worldwide post answers and debate a wide range of academic questions relating to all aspects of philosophy. Students of the social sciences may find the discussion of issues relating to war, political philosophy, democracy and social issues such as ethics and abortion enlightening.
BehindTheLabel.org is a multimedia news magazine and on-line community monitoring the international clothing industry. In particular it puts the spotlight on the working environment and employment conditions of the millions of workers around the world working for some of the multinational corporations behind the labels. The website is sponsored by " ... an alliance of clothing workers, religious leaders, and students standing up to demand human rights for sweatshop workers." The site also contains a collection of links to other related resources and gives the user the opportunity to register for the regular e-mail newsletter and join in online discussions through BehindTheLabel.org's message boards.
The CBA-Justice mailing list is used for the discussion of cost-benefit analysis of justice programs.
The Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS) is a designated university research centre within the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology at the University of Newcastle. Since its early days, research in geography at Newcastle has had a strong emphasis on applied work in economic geography, especially in relation to urban and regional development, but with a strong interdisciplinary ethos. Broadly, CURDS research concerns the uneven geographical impact of globalisation on social, economic, technological and cultural processes.
Christian-Sociologist is a list for discussion of sociology and related disciplines from a christian perspective, the impact of culture and social factors on christian and other faiths, the sociology of religion and belief. The list is not intended for discussions of theology or for debates over christian doctrine.
Consumer-Studies: A forum for the exchange of information, ideas and research in the specific areas of advertising and consumption.
Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of Oxford (Barnett House) : There is now a very wide range of research undertaken in the Department of Social Policy and Social Work with approximately 25 different funded research projects in operation at any one time.
The research groups all have their own websites or pages : the Centre for the Analysis of South African Social Policy (CASASP) ; the Centre for Evidence-Based Intervention (CEBI) ; the Centre for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Policy Science (CHAPPS) ; the Centre for Research into Parenting ; the Oxford Centre for Family Law and Policy (OXFLAP) ; the Oxford Centre for Population Research (OXPOP) ; the Politics of Social Policy Group and the Social Disadvantage Research Centre (SDRC). The national Family Policy Studies Centre and the ESPAnet 2004 site can be accessed via links from the Department's research page.
EBAY-STUDIES This list is used for discussions about eBay-related research across disciplinary boundaries. The list is regarded as an undisciplined space for the discussion of a variety of eBay themes including (but not exclusively) eBay and... identity, community, social capital, collecting in an e-society, consumption, consumer lifestyles, employment effects, website design, usability, the 'real' economy, the 'perfect market' and representations of eBay. It aims to encourage interdisciplinary research and collaboration through a discussion of eBay-related ideas and ongoing research.
ECON-SOC-DEVT Discussion of theory and practice in development studies broadly defined, including national economic growth, social and ethical development and related areas of political science, institution-building, development project to pics
esa-all : Superlist for the discussion lists of the European Sociological Association (ESA). General announcements (job ads, calls for papers, queries etc.) should not be placed here but should go to the list european-sociologist.
european-social-policy deals with social policy and social welfare issues in Europe, including the EU. Of interest to academics in social policy, sociology,economics, political science, law, public administration and other fields, and also to others involved in policy debate.
european-sociologist :  Based upon the newsletter of the European Sociological Association (ESA). Discussion, announcements (e.g., conferences, new posts), and information (e.g., research groups) for sociologists and other social scientists working in Europe or on European topics.
family-and-household : An interdisciplinary list for those teaching or researching in areas concerning contemporary families and households.
Guardian Unlimited: Society Talk offers a number of "talk boards" where the general public can post messages to online discussion boards to conduct national public debates on a wide range of issues. The Society Talk Board page lists current discussions but also has an archive of previous ones, arranged by the area of politics such as "social care", "voluntary sector", "housing", and "social policy". Being part of the online version of a major UK broad sheet newspaper, the discussion boards are busy and up to the minute.
Historical-Sociology : This list is used for the sharing of information related to historical sociology.
The Human Resource Management list aims to promote exchange of academic and professional information on human resource management related topics.
HUSITA Electronic Discussion List is available for discussion of the potentials of information technology in meeting the goals of human services anywhere in the world. Readers of this list help each other in the development of new computer applications, and support one another in the expansion of the use of computer networking to solve problems in the human services. Also for discussion are national and international topics in public policy, issues of technology access, and methods for cross-cultural technology transfer.
ID21 Development Research reporting service, featuring the latest UK-based development research. It is funded by the UK Department of International Development (DFID) and is produced jointly by the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex and the Panos Institute. The site is intended as a single point of access for policymakers and development managers to UK development research. The database contains research from some 40 university research departments and think-tanks, as well as researchers in the private consultant and voluntary sectors.
The Integrated Care Network is an initiative of the British government which seeks to encourage greater integration and provision of joined up services between different government bodies and agencies working in all aspects of health and social care. Key topics covered include: best value and social care, Health Action Zones, local public health strategies and NHS initiatives.
ISER : the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex incorporates the ESRC Research Centre on Micro-social Change, and the ESRC UK Longitudinal Studies Centre.
The PEALS mailing list is used to notify academics and members of the public about events run by the Policy, Ethics and Life Sciences Research Institute, a partnership between the University of Newcastle, the University of Durham and the International Centre for Life, on the social and ethical aspects of genetics and the life sciences.
Qual-research is a list devoted to all aspects of qualitative research: methodological, theoretical and practical also intended to facilitate discussion of diverse qualitative research: interviewing, ethnography, participation observation, focus groups, biographical and life history studies.
The User Involvement Research mailing list aims to bring together people with expertise in user involvement and public participation in the evaluation and delivery of public services. We seek to take forward theoretical, conceptual and practical thinking around different types and mechanisms of user involvement. We seek to promote engagement with researchers, providers, policy makers across the higher education, voluntary and public sectors.
WOMEN-AND-SOCIAL-POLICY aims to improve the communication between the members of the women and social policy special interest group & other interested academics. The aim is to discuss relevant issues, to inform each other about relevant research projects, publications, and conferences, and to organise events such as study days.

History [top of page]
Mailbase - history lists
collingwood : This list supports critical and scholarly discussion, reflection and research on the life and works of the historian and philosopher R.G. Collingwood.
EHSWOMEN Mailing list for the Women's Committee of the Economic History Society
euro-business-history :  A list devoted to scholarly discussion of business history in the U.K. and elsewhere in Europe. Its purpose is threefold: to disseminate information across the Continent, to act as a forum for expressing opinion within the discipline, and to present useful ideas and methods from other fields.
forced-migration-history :  This list serves to encourage the exchange of ideas and information on population displacements in twentieth century European history, and to explore the inter-relationship of migration/resettlement with nationalism, state formation and the construction of social identities.
Historical-Sociology: This list is used for the sharing of information related to historical sociology.
history-econ : A post-graduate economic history conference and newsletter.
Inter War-Rural-History is an interdisciplinary mailing list for the discussion of all aspects of interwar rural history, with a focus on the UK.


Maintained by Gill Skidmore

Last Modified Friday, 24 April 2009.   © Copyright Nuffield College.