A major reform of the way that NHS hospitals pay for legal liability insurance has led to improvements in patient safety, according to research funded by the ESRC.

The Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP), presents its major conclusions on 24th and 25th November, after nine years of investigations across all sectors of education, from the importance of preschool education to lifelong learning. Funded by the ESRC, the TLRP is the largest research initiative into education related topics ever undertaken in the United Kingdom.

Economics research in the UK is exceptional by international standards, second only to the United States, and thriving. Moreover, UK economics research has high policy impact, based on top-quality applied work and strong relationships between the academic and policy communities.

Professional standards programme falls short of an "A", suggests research.Official professional standards in both Scotland and England which aim to nurture the development of new teachers pay too little attention to what 'becoming' a teacher is really like. New research, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), finds that existing standards ignore the emotional, relationship and personal issues which are the real challenge for teachers starting out in their careers, focussing instead on the acquisition of skills and knowledge. Resulting from the study, researchers propose a new model which aims to improve existing standards by capturing the multi-dimensional experience of new teachers.

Government ownership of banks - something unthinkable until very recently for the 'Anglo-Saxon' model of capitalism - became a reality early in 2008. This was a policy response to an unprecedented global financial crisis, aimed at preventing financial meltdown. It succeeded in doing so, according to Professor Panicos Demetriades, an Economist funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) at the Department of Economics of the University of Leicester.

The experience of global crises shows that new guidelines tend to be aimed at the problems that caused the last crisis rather than anticipating the next source of weakness, according to research by Professor Catherine Schenk, from the ESRC-funded World Economy and Finance Research Programme at the University of Glasgow.

Against a backdrop of stories about Britain's "broken society" there are examples of community action bringing positive changes. A new study, funded by the ESRC, centred on one recent example of such community spirit in London, where 'London Citizens' recently fought for - and won - higher wages for some of the city's lowest paid.

The global financial crisis could seriously delay the discovery and production of many new life-saving medicines, warns a major international conference today (Monday).

The Third Sector Research Centre (TSRC) officially opens its doors today (Thursday 23rd October), at the University of Birmingham. The TSRC will be led by Professor Pete Alcock of the University of Birmingham, in a joint venture with the University of Southampton, co-funded by the ESRC, Office of the Third Sector (OTS) and The Barrow Cadbury Trust.

It is vital that the UK maintains a strong supply of skilled people to enable the research base, business and society to respond to as yet unforeseen challenges and to identify future opportunities. The ESRC is building upon its commitment to support research and training essential to the international competitiveness of UK business, with a new £6 million investment, the Capacity Building Clusters in Business Research and Engagement.

One thing that all western nations have in common is our ever evolving societies. In order to understand the impact of such changes on our communities, the ESRC is launching Understanding Society, the world's largest ever household longitudinal study, on Monday 13th October 2008.

Britain's post-war baby boomers, associated throughout their lives with social change, are failing to break new ground in their approach to growing old, according to research supported by the ESRC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

With increasing consumer pressure on both farmers and supermarkets to minimise the use of chemical pesticides in fruit and vegetables, a new study, funded by the ESRC, looks at why there is currently little use of biological alternatives in the UK.