The ESRC Research Centre on Micro-Social Change (MiSoC) is a multidisciplinary centre of quantitative social scientists engaging in cutting edge research and providing evidence with which to address key societal challenges. MiSoC has been based at ISER at the University of Essex since 1989, but it features strong collaborations with other universities in the UK as well as abroad. The current research programme is run jointly with researchers at the University of Bristol, the University of Bologna, and the University of Technology in Sydney.

Our work offers robust and high-quality research evidence and brings it to policymakers, assisting them in the development of policies and programmes which equalise opportunities and create greater fairness in our society.”

— Professor Emilia Del Bono, Director

Research areas

Education and skills

Acquisition of skills during school and higher education, the productivity of skills in the labour market, a specific focus on social and emotional development and mental health

Families and well-being

The role of parents in early child development, the emergence of gender differences, ageing, caring, and the intergenerational transmission of social behaviour

Ethnicity and migration

Ethnic inequalities in education and the labour market, intergenerational mobility, use of transnational data sources to allow comparisons across borders

Labour markets and institutions

Family relations and gender roles, changing housing and labour markets, inequalities in living standards and wellbeing

Methods and machine learning

Machine learning for causal analysis, on-line genealogy data, innovations in measurement including genetic and epigenetic and the elicitation of expectations and risk

News

Call for papers: European Social Science Genetics Network Conference II
Call for papers: MiSoC Workshop on Subjective Expectations 
Understanding the long-term impact of debt advice

More news

Publications

Photo: books on a shelf
Leading UK research institute says calls for free school meals expansion are ‘timely and warranted’
  1. Angus Holford
  2. Birgitta Rabe
Leader identity and coordination
  1. Sonia Bhalotra
  2. Irma Clots-Figueras
  3. Lakshmi Iyer
  4. Joseph Vecci
Policy uncertainty and information flows: evidence from pension reform expectations
  1. Adeline Delavande
  2. Marco Francesconi
  3. Ben Etheridge
  4. Emanuele Ciani

More publications

Commentary

Canteen food
Universal free school meals would make a huge difference to the cost-of-living crisis – here’s how
Angus Holford
Cold homes increase the risk of severe mental health problems
Amy Clair
Are Ethnic Enclaves to Blame for Social Glue Fractures?
Neli Demireva

Events

Photo: people on a panel

More events

Contact

ESRC Research Centre on Micro-Social Change (MiSoC)
Institute for Social and Economic Research
University of Essex
Wivenhoe Park
Colchester
Essex
CO4 3SQ
UK

Email: iser@essex.ac.uk
Follow us on Twitter @MiSoC_Essex