Experts

Sarah Vickerstaff, Professor of Work and Employment in the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research at the University of Kent. Sarah is an internationally recognised sociologist and researcher into paid work in later life. In the last 20 years her research on older workers and retirement has been funded by research councils, charities and the UK Government. She is Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS).

Anna Vignoles is a Professor of Education at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, a Fellow of the British Academy, and a trustee of the Nuffield Foundation. Anna undertakes research into how we can improve students’ academic achievement and help them develop the skills they need in the labour market. She has a particular interest in researching the inequalities we see in access to education (globally) and, in the UK context, the lower levels of educational success of children from poorer families. She also studies the economic and social outcomes from education.

Carmen is a PhD student in Economics at the University of Warwick, where she specialises in applied microeconomic research. Since 2017 she works at the Centre for Economic performance researching various crime and urban economics topics. Her recent research has focused on gang violence and drug markets.

Stephanie’s research builds on the biomedical as well as social science literature. She investigates the importance of genetics, early life environments, parental investments, and government policy in explaining individuals’ health and behaviour over the life course. She currently holds an ERC Starting Grant (2020-2025) that aims to incorporate genetic data into social science research and study the importance of the nature-nurture interplay in the developmental origins of health and disease.

Maarten Voors is an Associate Professor at the Development Economics Group at Wageningen University. He received his PhD from Wageningen University in 2011 (with honours) and was an Isaac Newton Trust Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge 2011-2013. His main field is development economics, and his research focuses on institutions, (post-conflict) development and behaviour.

Tim is the Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of Oxford Brookes Business School. He is an economic geographer, currently co-leading a study examining the impact of Covid-19 on Innovation-led businesses for the Innovation Caucus (ESRC/InnovateUK) and on micro-businesses as part of the Productivity Insights Network (ESRC) of which he is a Co-Director. Tim has also recently edited a book on Productivity and the Pandemic.