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This fellowship proposal is for a programme of knowledge exchange and research activity that would provide independent, non-partisan information on key aspects of public opinion towards Scotland's constitutional future. The programme consists of three main activities: the writing of a book-length study on public attitudes towards Scotland's constitutional future for publication in advance of the referendum; the provision of a website that would act as a comprehensive and authoritative source of evidence on and insight into public opinion towards the key issues at stake; and, the provision of research briefings and seminars on key aspects of public opinion. The book length study will be the first full length study of public attitudes - on both sides of the Anglo-Scottish border - towards Scotland's constitutional future. It will cover four main topics: trends in attitudes since 1999; why people support or oppose Scottish independence; what policies people would want an independent Scotland to pursue; and how much devolution would Scotland want if it remained within the UK. The book would aim to assess what lessons can be drawn from the Scottish case for a number of key academic and policy debates. How far are attitudes towards independence simply a reflection of people's sense of national identity or are they are also shaped significantly by what they think the consequences of independence would be? Will people vote for or against simply on the merits of the issue or will they be influenced by their attitudes towards the incumbent UK government or what they think of the various political parties? And has introducing devolution inevitably put Scotland on a path towards independence or is there a possible constitutional settlement that might provide a stable basis for governing Scotland within the framework of the Union? The book will be written primarily on the basis of existing available data, much of it from the ScotCen's Scottish Social Attitudes survey, but will also benefit from the collection of new data on attitudes towards some of the policy options that would face an independent Scotland, such as whether it should be a nuclear free country or keep the pound. The web site will have three main elements. Between them they are designed to enhance the quality of academic and non-academic reporting of and debate about the state of public opinion. First, the site will bring together and make easily accessible all the key survey readings on public opinion that have been published since 2007. Where the same question has been asked on more than one occasion the resulting time series will be available. At the same time there will be an easy to use facility that will enable users to interrogate further the data of one particularly rich and important source, the Scottish Social Attitudes survey. Second the site will post written blogs and video commentaries on new poll and survey findings shortly after they are published. These postings will draw attention to any methodological considerations that should be borne in interpreting a finding, as well as interpret their substantive significance. Finally, the site will provide a comprehensive set of digital links to existing academic and other literature on the subject. The research briefings will provide four page commentaries on the state of public opinion in respect of a number of key topics of relevance to the debate about Scotland's constitutional future. On the occasion of each briefing a half day seminar on the relevant topic will also be held. This activity is designed to enhance understanding of the referendum debate amongst those who are currently less familiar with developments so far.

The International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) is one of the most important attempts to undertake cross-national survey research that currently exists. 46 countries currently participate, covering all five of inhabited continents across the world. Each year, member countries field an agreed module of 60 questions on a particular topic, usually as part of an existing random probability survey. The data from these studies, along with a set of prescribed socio-demographic background variables is then deposited in an agreed format with ISSP data archive. A wide range of different modules have been fielded since the project began in 1985, covering topics such as social inequality, religion and the role of government. Topics are chosen at an annual plenary meeting by attending members. They are revisited periodically, with a number having been covered three or four times. As a result, ISSP data can be used both to examine differences between countries at a particular point in time and to compare differences in trends over time. A combined dataset containing data for all countries is made publicly available to the research community approximately two years after data collection has taken place. ISSP data are widely used; worldwide, over 200 publications are recorded each year. In Britain, there have been over 500 publications using ISSP data since the programme began, close to 10% of the worldwide total. Since ISSP began, Britain's participation has been facilitated by including the ISSP module on a self-completion supplement that forms part of the British Social Attitudes survey (BSA), an annual, high quality independent survey conducted by NatCen. This is a highly cost effective way of fielding the module, as only the marginal costs of asking the ISSP questions have to be covered. Until 2002, British participation was primarily funded through core funding given to the Centre for Research into Elections and Social Trends, an ESRC Research Centre. Since 2004 it has been funded as a research resource by the ESRC Resources Board, and this application proposes that this arrangement should continue for a further three years. ISSP will cover three topics during this period: role of government (2016), social networks (2017) and religion (2018): - The role of government module was previously fielded in 1985, 1990, 1996 and 2006. Its repetition will provide valuable data allowing us to track how views about issues such as extremism, surveillance and counter-terrorism have changed over time, at a time when many countries have experienced terror attacks or threats (and thus when we might anticipate attitude change) - The 2017 module on social networks was fielded in 1986 and 2004, and will include questions on support networks, a census of family and friendship relations, the use of social media in maintaining relationships, and whether relationships are positive or not. The module also looks at who should provide care and services for vulnerable groups at a time when an aging population is causing financial strain in many countries - The 2018 module on religion (asked 1991, 1998, 2008) will allow us to examine spirituality and well-being, the place of religion within state institutions, and the role of religion in conflict and extremism. This will provide valuable insights into how people follow and perceive religion during a period when it has been called on to justify acts of extremism and aggression A range of dissemination activities promoting awareness and use of ISSP data by social science researchers, policy-makers and media are proposed. These include: including at least one chapter a year based on ISSP data in the annual BSA report, which is freely available online and widely disseminated; developing a bespoke ISSP website including visualization of ISSP data; utilizing NatCen's strong social media presence to raise awareness of the data; delivering presentations to relevant research and policy audiences.

Family life and the role of fathers within the family have changed radically over the past few decades. A decline in the traditional 'nuclear' family model, with increasing divorce rates and increased re-partnering, has occurred at the same time as men have become more involved in the care of children. The changes in men's family roles are mirrored by changes in their economic activity and working patterns. The classic model where there was a 'male breadwinner' in full time employment and a 'female caregiver' not in paid work is no longer the norm and the changing cultural expectations on men to be more actively engaged in the care of children have influenced the development of work-family reconciliation policy. There is a real need for more information about fathers; whilst we know that the picture of fatherhood in the UK is diverse, there is no single comprehensive source of information about men as fathers, their contribution and role in the family, involvement in childrearing, economic activity and contribution, relationship with children they do not live with and stepchildren they live with, and how these life patterns interact. This study will bridge this information gap and establish the UK's foremost analysis about the lives of fathers, drawn from secondary analysis of large-scale datasets; Understanding Society, the European Labour Force Survey, the European Social Survey and the British Household Panel Study. Although principally focused on fathers in the UK, the study will also include international data to enable comparisons with countries with different labour market contexts and different social policies around the family and work. In addition to providing the first comprehensive profiling of fathers in twenty-first century Britain, the study will: -Examine which are factors associated with differences in fathers' paid work and family life - such as age and educational status of the father, number of children and partner's employment. -Look at time trends in fathers' working patterns since the late 1990s - to explore whether changes in UK policy and the recession have led to a shift in how households arrange their paid work and care. -Compare the UK with other European countries - to try and unpick which factors affect fathers' working patterns and levels of work-life conflict. The study will be of benefit to both academic and non-academic audiences; early discussions with key stakeholders have shown that the study would be valuable in satisfying existing information gaps on fathers and informing policy development and practice. To facilitate the impact of this study we propose a range of written outputs and dissemination events including: publications in academic journals; an online resource which will house all the main research findings and will structure the information around the needs of the diverse stakeholders; a launch event for the study's findings and for the online tool; targeted briefings aimed at specific types of stakeholders; and presentations at UK and international academic conferences.

The UK government is now attempting to implement the instruction to secure the UK's withdrawal from membership of the European Union ('Brexit') given it by the electorate in the referendum held on June 23 2016. This withdrawal represents one of the most momentous changes in UK government policy since 1945. However, it has still left open a wide range of possible options for and decisions to make about the future relationship between the UK and the EU, while the merits of various different options are the subject of intense debate. At the same time, Brexit potentially has important implications for the territorial integrity of the UK and for the future of its political parties. This project will, first of all, track and analyse what kind of future relationship between the UK and the EU voters would like to see put in place and monitor voters' reactions to the progress of the negotiations between the UK and the EU. In so doing it will focus in particular on whether voters' preferences and reactions are shaped by the perceived transactional (and especially economic) costs and benefits of withdrawal, or whether they reflect voters' prior predispositions (such as how they voted in the referendum) and sense of identity. Of particular interest is whether there is any evidence that, as a result of having held the referendum, the latter may have become more important in shaping voters' attitudes towards the EU. At the same time, the project will assess the potentially disruptive consequences of Brexit for Britain's political future. Unlike England and Wales, Scotland voted to remain in the EU and the Scottish Government wishes to maintain a close relationship with the EU - perhaps by seeking membership for Scotland in its own right. The project will track and analyse both whether there is public support north of the border for a closer relationship with the EU and the impact that Brexit is having on support for Scottish independence. Meanwhile, the supporters of all political parties (apart from UKIP) were divided between backing Remain and voting Leave in a contest in which attitudes towards the merits of having a more less diverse society displaced arguments about whether government should be more or less active in pursuing a more equal society that usually dominate in a general election. If Brexit remains (as seems likely) the central focus of British political debate, it is possible that the existing coalitions of support enjoyed by the Conservatives and Labour will be frayed or even fracture. The project will thus analyse whether there is any evidence that this is proving to be the case. In pursuit of these objectives, the project will both undertake its own new survey research and monitor and make easily accessible the results of published opinion polls. The new survey research (undertaken both across Britain as a whole and Scotland in particular) will focus both on short-term changes in voters' attitudes and evaluations during the course of the negotiations and on the long-term impact the Brexit process is having on the structure of political attitudes in the UK. All data and analysis will be made freely and regularly available to anyone with an interest in the subject via two well-established websites, activity that will be supplemented by public and private seminar presentations. As a result, the project is designed to ensure that all those with responsibility for taking decisions in respect of Brexit have easy access to the best available information on public attitudes towards the process of withdrawal, while at the same time helping to ensure that there is adequate academic investigation into the impact of Brexit on the distribution and structure of political attitudes in the UK.