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Individual Pathways to Participation
 Recent years have seen growing public policy concern about participation, with a strong focus on fostering co-operation and involvement between community groups and users of public services and those responsible for providing them. Crucial in all this is an understanding of the hows and whys or 'pathways' any one of us takes to and from getting involved.
That is where this booklet aims to make a contribution - examining, among other things, whether doing voluntary and community work can spur people to participate in civic and public service activity.
Well-being for children and young people
 This booklet highlights in brief some of the evidence presented and the discussion. It also presents some of theparticipants’ conclusions on the most pressing priorities in terms of improving outcomes for our children andyoung people.The well-being of our children is an issue of critical importance to individuals, the economy and society as awhole.We hope the seminar and this booklet will make a valuable contribution to a topic that so clearly deserves our attention.
Localism and Local Governance
 While the agenda for localism is enabling individuals to take more responsibility for the running of their communities, questions remain about the effectiveness of the developments. In consequence, a debate continues to take place about how people should relate to the state and to one another, and the impact local governance is having on public service delivery and local communities.
This publication is intended to make a positive contribution to the localism and local governance debate. It draws on presentations given by Marilyn Taylor of the University of the West of England and Stuart Wilks-Heeg of the University of Liverpool.
Waste Consumption in Northern Ireland:Consumption: Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling
 The potential contribution of scientific and technical research to the development of waste solutions is widely appreciated, but the role of social science is less well known. Understanding how to increase the number of UK householders who compost their biodegradable waste, recycle their newspapers and avoid plastic bags is largely a question of achieving ‘buy-in’ and behaviour change amongst individuals. Policymakers trying to persuade business as well as individuals to adopt green habits are faced with a number of options, from eco-taxes to ‘social marketing’. Social science research can help them to devise an initiative, measure its success or failure and understand why it did or didn’t work.
Social pressures on young people and risk-taking behaviour
 Childhood is a risky business. Whether it’s climbing a tree or crossing a road unaccompanied, growing up involves a certain degree of healthy risk taking. Yet not all risk taking constitutes a positive step towards independent, well-adjusted adulthood. Some risks are inherently riskier and potentially more dangerous and unhealthy than others. And recent studies suggest that UK children are too frequently attracted to the 'wrong' sort of risk. Whether it's smoking, drinking, fighting or unprotected sexual activity, UK children appear more attracted to potentially dangerous risky activities than many of their international peers. Why should this be? What attracts our children towards potentially harmful risk taking behaviours? And what can the latest research tell us about risk taking and its consequences?
From Local to Global
 In the past, there have been international social movements, such as that for the abolition of slavery, but a broadening of citizen action on global concerns drawn from local communities is a more recent development. Generous giving to disaster appeals, support for 'Make Poverty History', commitment to fair trade, cancellation of Third World debt, widespread condemnation of military action, and environmental campaigns are manifestations of public concern for issues that challenge people across the world.
This publication is intended to make a positive contribution to the debate about local participation, changing ideas about citizenship and the growth of interest in global issues. It draws on presentations given by John Gaventa of the University of Sussex and Christopher Rootes of the University of Kent.
The Impact of Teleworking and Teleconferencing on Transport Policy
 Developments in information and communication technologies have had a dramatic effect on where and when people work. It is estimated that by 2006 over four million people were working at home for at least one day a week, and 52 per cent of them relied on the telephone and computer to do so.The numbers have nearly doubled since 1997, but they still represent only a small proportion of the working population. However, employers who have offered workers the opportunity to work from home claim to have achieved increased productivity as well as a higher rate of job satisfaction among their staff.
These new working practices are not only visibly transforming the lives of individuals, they are also changing travel patterns in ways that could have a significant impact on transport congestion and carbon emissions as well as on improved work/life balance.
Human Rights a tool for change
 The Human Rights Act 1998 is a potential tool for positive reforms in society and, along with individuals, voluntary and community organisations have a significant role to play in ensuring that human rights are standardised, protected and enhanced. The challenge for all is to determine how human rights can improve community engagement, foster social cohesion and ensure equality, while at the same time protecting our individual freedoms.
This publication is intended to make a positive contribution to the debate about social justice, and human rights and their role in improving public services. It draws on presentations given by Katie Ghose, director of the British Institute of Human Rights, and Professor Stuart Weir, director of the Democratic Audit.
Social Enterprises: Diversity and Dynamics, Contexts and Contributions
 The comparative lack of research into SE has recently prompted a number of practical mapping exercises to attempt to better understand their scale, scope and nature. There has also been a recent upsurge of academic interest in the field, and several reviews of the state of academic and practical knowledge about the sector as a whole, and particular aspects of it.
This monograph seeks to consolidate and comment upon the growing national and international research evidence base concerning social enterprise and in doing so identify and analyse the gaps that exist and their implications in terms of future research priorities and opportunities. This analysis is also supplemented by a brief accompanying discussion paper, and both documents benefit from insights generated during the discussions within the 2007 Summer/Autumn joint ESRC/Social Enterprise Coalition (SEC) seminar series on SE.
Engaging Citizens: Current issues and findings
 The ESRC in collaboration with the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) were organised a series of seminars on civil renewal and active citizenship. The aim of the seminars was to improve the understanding of the motivations and practices of engaged citizens.
The seminars were covered the following themes: - Faith based voluntary action;
- ICT, Social capital and voluntary action;
- Individual pathways in participation;
- Localism and local governance; and
- Human rights, a tool for change.
Each of the Engaging Citizens seminars was accompanied by a publication that provided further details on the issue presented by the researchers. This publication summarises the seminar series and identifying key issues for policy, practice and research across the seminar series.
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