Research
I am co-leading several grants and leading several work packages that explore the health and mental health impact of changes to the welfare system. My research on the mental health impact of Universal Credit and wider changes during austerity have contributed to editorials, evidence reports and submissions to select committees. I have also given written and oral evidence to the DWP Select Committee on Universal Credit based on my research evidence exploring its mental health impact), as well as attending and contributing to various All Party Parliamentary Group meetings on Universal Credit and levelling up. Previously my work exploring poverty and child health outcomes contributed to the body of evidence that resulted in the retention of income-based measurement of child poverty nationally which fed into an impactful REF case study.
These contributed to recommendations to government, and have since been cited in national and international reports (e.g.https://www.srpoverty.org/2024/10/01/the-burnout-economy-poverty-and-mental-health/). Moreover, I have worked to translate and discuss my research with a broader audience, creating an animation and contributing to a podcast where I was interviewed by a group of young people (https://soundcloud.com/oursicksociety/social-class -and-young-people) which we are working on including on the University Web Profile.
Alongside colleagues in Law and Social Justice I have engaged in Participatory Action Research that resulted in the development of the Liverpool Access to Advice Network with the target of improving capacity and access to free legal advice for people in Liverpool. We were awarded the 1st Annual Impact Prize for doing so at the Socio-Legal Studies Association Conference.
Knowledge exchange and co-production are integral to my research practices. Integrating the voices of all interested, invested or impacted voices is a fundamental part of both my research and teaching to ensure research can be practically and usefully applied in the world. As a result the grants I have developed and been involved in all included rich knowledge engage and co-production methodologies.
I have discussed some of this work, examples of which can be accessed via the links below:
Oral evidence to the House of Commons Works and Pensions Select Committee on Universal Credit and the wait for first payment:
https://parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/5d5e46b8-c323-4a64-8bca-53e2ed17cb4f
https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/528/default/
Podcast: Episode 8 of Our Sick Society: Social class, poverty, and young people's mental health: https://soundcloud.com/oursicksociety/social-class-and-young-people
Conference: The International BNA Festival of Neruscience: The psychological impact of poverty: http://www.educationalneuroscience.org.uk/2021/08/23/symposium-on-the-psychological-impact-of-poverty-2/
Liverpool Responds: Health inequalities (discussing the health inequalities before COVID-19): https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/coronavirus/events/liverpool-responds-health-inequalities/
Current research interests
Public mental health
Social adversities in mental health
Psychosis: paranoia and hallucinations
Health inequalities
Social determinants of health/mental health
Recession/austerity and health/mental health
Poverty and deprivation
Research to inform policy
Cohort and longitudinal data analysis
Quantitative methods
Applied statistics
Coastal communities
Data visualisation
Digital stories
Research groups
Research grants
National partnership to tackle health inequalities in coastal communities
ARTS AND HUMANITIES RESEARCH COUNCIL
February 2024 - October 2027
Have the two-child limit to welfare policy and cuts to contraceptive services in Britain impacted abortion rates and household poverty?
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
August 2023 - October 2025
CGULL - MICROPLASTICS
WELLCOME TRUST (UK)
October 2020 - December 2029
Evaluation of the Health Impacts of Universal Credit: a mixed methods study
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE (UK)
May 2021 - February 2026
The impact of policies that aim to reduce child poverty on child and maternal mental health.
WELLCOME TRUST (UK)
April 2016 - June 2024
From Policy to Inequality: Assessing the effects of policy interventions on inequalities in child health using natural experiments.
WELLCOME TRUST (UK)
May 2015 - April 2016
Research collaborations
Dr Peter Craig
Evaluation of the Health Impacts of Universal Credit: a mixed methods study
University of Glasgow
PI on NIHR (Evaluation of the Health Impacts of Universal Credit: a mixed methods study) grant
Dr Jennifer Sigafoos
Access to Justice
Co-I on Access to Justice project
Dr James Organ
Access to Justice
PI on Access to Justice project
Dr Ben Barr
Wellcome Trust fellowship
Wellcome Trust mentor
Professor David Taylor-Robinson
Wellcome Trust fellowship
Wellcome Trust mentor
Professor Dame Margaret Whitehead
Wellcome Trust fellowship
Wellcome Trust mentor