Executive Members

University of Birmingham

Karen Rowlingson is Professor of Social Policy at the University of Birmingham.  She is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and member of the REF sub panel for UoA 20: social work and social policy. 

Karen’s research interests include: wealth and the wealthy; financial inclusion; the moral economy of inequality; inter-generational relationships and inequalities; and the social security and tax systems.

University of Edinburgh

Markus joined University of Edinburgh in 2019 as Senior Lecturer in Global and International Social Policy. He has also taught at Ulster University (2013-2019) and LSE (2011-2013).

Markus' research interests include the role of civil society organisations in social policy design and delivery, and the social policy of the populist rightist parties in Europe.

Gideon is Associate Professor of Sociology and Social Policy at Swansea University.

His main current research interests lie in three areas, which sometimes overlap: inequalities and social justice in childhood; ethics, including in research; and co-production.  He is co-editor of the journal Ethics and Social Welfare, and director of Swansea’s Research Institute of Ethics and Law.

University of Edinburgh

Jan Eichhorn is a Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Edinburgh.

His research focuses on challenging orthodox economic assumptions in social policy and on understanding how people engage politically to affect changes. In addition to his university role, Jan is also the research director of a non-partisan German think tank, d|part, that connects research and practice in the field of political participation.

Jan is a co-editor of the Journal of Social Policy.

University of Edinburgh

Elke Heins is Lecturer in Social Policy and Deputy Director (Research) of the Graduate School of Social and Political Science at the University of Edinburgh.

Her principle research area is comparative and European social policy. She is particularly interested in labour market and unemployment policy as well as well as the politics of health and wellbeing. She is currently one of the co-editors of Social Policy Review.

University of Stirling

Dr McCall is a Senior Lecturer in Social Policy and Housing at the University of Stirling. Her work has included extensive research on the role of front-line workers, users and volunteers and the policy process and the integration of health and housing. This has included exploring front-line worker discretion, interpretations, activities and actions and bridging the gap between policy and practice. Dr McCall has a broad portfolio of social science teaching and research with the University of Stirling.

Key interests and publications include work on housing and ageing, volunteering, devolution, poverty,  stigma, inequality, gender, urban society, museums and the cultural sector.

University of York

Enrico is Lecturer in Public and Social Policy at the University of York.

His current research interests are in self-employment (and the wider context of changing wage-labour conditions and social protection systems), in public service reform (with a focus on the ideational underpinnings of reform trends), and in the crisis of liberal democracy (notably with respect to the principle of popular sovereignty).

University of Wolverhampton

James Stanyer is a doctoral student at the Institute for Community Research and Development based at the University of Wolverhampton, researching Inclusive Growth in the West Midlands region under the supervisory team of Dr Steve Iafrati and Dr Stuart Connor. Prior to his research, James completed a Masters in Social Policy at the University of Birmingham and a BA (hons) degree in Politics and Social Policy at Wolverhampton.

Outside of his doctoral research James has lectured across undergraduate Social Policy modules, and foundation level courses.  His other interests include; food insecurity, disability, asylum seekers and refugees, and race.