Lecturer in Gerontology, University of Southampton
I am a sociologist of work, and am particularly interested in what work means to people, how this changes over the lifecourse, and inequalities in people's experiences of work.
My PhD looked at how Welsh coalmining communities had responded to the labour market restructuring which followed the 1984/85 Miners' Strike, and prompted a long-standing interest in occupational attachments and how these shift and interact with unpaid work. In the 2000s I worked in the Employment Group at the Policy Studies Institute, focusing on disadvantage and evaluations of labour market programmes.
I am currently researching flexible working in later life from an employer perspective, and developing research interests around the work of blogging.
How the UK’s new rights around flexible working will affect employees and businesses
Apr 08, 2024 06:11 am UTC| Insights & Views Law Business
Employees in the UK have just received a new right to request flexible working arrangements from the first day of a new job. This is courtesy of the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act and supporting secondary...
Young people are missing the office – here’s how they can thrive in a post-pandemic workplace
Aug 06, 2021 09:44 am UTC| Life
When asked about the governments position on remote working in the long-term, UK chancellor Rishi Sunak recently said that young people in particular would benefit from physically being in the office. It was really...
Flexible working: lessons from the great work-from-home mass experiment
Dec 19, 2020 09:51 am UTC| Life
For years, politicians and employers alike have talked up the promise of flexible working. And it looked like change was happening. Last year, the UK government announced a consultation around whether flexible work...
If the UK is going to make more people retire later, it needs to get creative
Jul 20, 2017 16:05 pm UTC| Insights & Views Economy
The UK government has made a surprise announcement that the rise in state pension age to 68 is to be phased in from 2037, instead of 2044. Made just days before the end of an unusually troubled parliamentary session, it is...
Johannesburg in a time of darkness: Ivan Vladislavić’s new memoir reminds us of the city’s fragility
Labour can afford to be far more ambitious with its economic policies – voters are on board
Sudan: civil war stretches into a second year with no end in sight