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Honorary appointments

IER Honorary Associations

Graham Attwell- Honorary Associate Professor

gattwell.jpgGraham Attwell is a specialist in Technology-enhanced teaching and learning and web-based learning environment development. He is involved in research and development into pedagogies for Technology Enhanced Learning, recognition of informal learning, training of teachers and trainers and development of open source software for education and Open Educational Resources. His recent work has focused on research and development of new applications and approaches to e-Portfolios and Personal Learning Environments and use of social software for learning and knowledge development. He is experienced in the use of ICT for e-Learning and in developing, delivering and moderating e-learning programmes for teachers and trainers in initial training and for professional development. His company, Pontydysgu, has organised a series of face-to-face and on-line workshops for teachers in producing Open Education resources. He is a consultant to OECD and UNESCO on open content development and and has acted as a consultant to the European Centre for Vocational Education and Training (CEDEFOP) on virtual communities and knowledge harvesting. He has extensive experience of national project evaluation and national and international programme evaluation in relation to innovations in learning, including use of ICT to support learning. He is currently working with the support team for the JISC Emerge and CREATE programmes. His popular edublog - the Wales Wide Web.

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Dr Sally-Anne Barnes - Honorary Reader

Sally-Anne Barnes is a lecturer at the University of Leicester School of Business in the Department of Work, Employment, Management and Organisations. With an established track record in research, she has worked on and successfully managed a number of projects in the careers field for over 20 years. Her international research projects have investigated career development, the transformation of careers and the labour market, plus how individuals engage with lifelong guidance and learning. She has particular expertise in labour market data and its technical applications, focusing on career development and the use of ICT to support practitioners. She has undertaken research for the UK Government, sector bodies, charities and international organisations (such as the EC, OECD, CEDEFOP), the findings of which have been used to inform policy and practice. For more information, see Sally-Anne's ULSB profile page.

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Neil Bachelor - Honorary Professorial Fellow

Neil is the founder and director of Omnifolio C.I.C., a not-for-profit online profiling and job-matching service. He is also an information consultant for the Gatsby Foundation and the data architect for Innovate UK’s Workforce Foresighting Hub. He has previously worked for SHL on the design and implementation of their psychometric assessment products. In addition, he has designed bespoke assessment tools for large employers including The U.S. Federal Government, BT and Centrica to measure employee understanding and situational judgment. He is currently part of the IER team working with the Department for Education to design and develop a UK Standard Skills Classification.

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Rhys Davies - Honorary Associate Professor

Based at Cardiff University, Rhys is Co-Director of the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data (WISERD), a national interdisciplinary social science research institute. Rhys is an applied labour economist who has undertaken research on a variety of issues related to employment and the labour market. His research has explored issues related to the gender pay gap, workplace accidents and work-related ill-health, the early careers of graduates, job quality and job satisfaction, and the determinants of union membership. He is currently the academic lead for the Skills and Employability research programme being undertaken by Administrative Data Research Wales. This work focuses on the transitions made by young people following their completion of compulsory education, their participation in post-compulsory education and training, and the role of careers guidance in supporting these transitions.

See Rhys's Cardiff webpage for more information.

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Professor Derek Bosworth - Honorary Professorial Fellow

Derek Bosworth was also an Emeritus Professor at UMIST (now the University of Manchester), Senior Research Associate at St. Peter’s College, Oxford and Professorial Fellow at the UK Commission for Employment and Skills. Until recently, he was also an Honorary Professor at Wuhan University of Technology. He has worked with IER and its predecessors for over thirty years. He started work as a researcher at the University of Warwick, undertaking workforce projections for the then Engineering Industry Training Board, and has continued to take an interest in issues relating to skills and employment throughout his career. He has worked extensively on both theoretical and empirical labour supply and demand models, as well as analysing their implications for skill shortages, education and training.

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Claire Callender - Honorary Professor

callender - profile pictureClaire Callender (BSc, PhD) is Professor of Higher Education Policy at UCL Institute of Education (IoE) and Professor of Higher Education Studies at Birkbeck, University of London. At UCL, she is Deputy Director of the Centre for Global Higher Education, an international research centre funded by the ESRC.

Claire’s research and writing focus on higher education student finances and its consequences. She has contributed to some of the most significant UK inquiries into student funding, and presented evidence to various Parliamentary Select Committees. She was a New Century Fulbright Scholar at the Harvard School of Education from 2007-2008. In 2017, she was awarded an OBE for services to higher education.

She is currently conducting research on student loan debt, examining its influences on graduates’ post-graduation behaviour and life choices with colleagues from the University of Michigan and the University of Twente.

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Eamonn Davern - Honorary Professorial Fellow

Eamonn Davern profile pictureMr. Davern is an Independent Employment Services Expert. He has specialized in the comparative study of International Employment and Welfare systems and has extensive experience of working on EU and other international Projects including Technical Assistance Programmes to reform Public Employment Services (PES) in a number of countries.

Since 2017 he has worked as a freelance expert leading a number of projects including; EU Technical Assistance for the reform of PES in Cyprus the Czech Republic, and Lithuania, an ESF Transnational Employment Platform project to improve integration systems for LTU people, improvements to the Youth Guarantee ,ILO Projects for reform of the PES in Uzbekistan, Armenia and Ethiopia, the establishment of Job Centres in Anglophone African countries, and reform of the PES in Ghana.

Eamonn has written on many PES related subjects including published studies on; reform of Performance Measurement in UK PES, European PES support for the promotion of gender equality, Job Carving, developing PES partnerships, and a study of PES in African and Middle Eastern countries.

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Professor Paul Edwards - Honorary Professor

Paul Edwards photoPaul Edwards, FBA is Emeritus Professor of Employment Relations at Birmingham Business School. A former Director of the Industrial Relations Research Unit at Warwick, his research interests include employment relations in small firms and the impact of employment legislation within the firm. He has a particular interest in case study methods.

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Professor Peter Fairbrother - Honorary Professor

Peter Fairbrother is Professor of Management and Labour, Tasmanian School of Business and Economics, and Member of the Better Work and Well-being Research Cluster, University of Tasmania. He is an Affiliated Professor at HEC, Montréal. He is a lead member of the International Partnership, ‘Institutional Experimentation for Better work’, involving 20 partner research centres and 180 researchers. He is known for his work on trade union, organisation, capacity, and renewal. His longstanding research focus is on work and employment, addressing the public services, and tracing out the restructuring of the modern state. He is an expert on the political economy of regional change and development, focusing on the implications for workers and their capacities in relation to regional governance. Building on an extended case-study approach, he has undertaken research focusing on the interplay between actors’ experience and structural complexity. His work has been funded by national research councils from Australia, Canada and the UK, as well as EU research funding sources, including social dialogue organisations across Europe.

Natalie Fisher - Honorary Associate Professor

N FisherNatalie has spent the last twelve years supporting the Armed Forces Community working initially as a psychologist for the MoD and more recently as an Occupational Psychologist leading military personnel research for QinetiQ. Her work has ranged from direct support including conducting psychological assessments for arduous roles to leading large-scale, applied research studies to enhance organisation performance. Recent research includes: Self-Employment and the Armed Forces Community http://www.fim-trust.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/20181008-Self-employment-and-the-Armed-Forces-FINAL.pdf and Military Spousal/Partner Employment: Identifying the Barriers and Support Required https://aff.org.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Employment-Research-report-ONLINE-COPY.pdf. Her work has been praised by MOD for the impact it has had on Defence decision making. Natalie is a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow with the British Psychological Society, and a Registered Psychologist (Occupational) with the Health and Care Professions Council.

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Professor Anne Green - Honorary Professor

Anne GreenAnne Green is Professor of Regional Economic Development at City-REDI (Regional Economic Development Institute), Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham. She was formerly a long-standing member of staff at IER. A geographer by background, her research focuses on geographical aspects of employment change, non-employment, local skills strategies, inclusive growth, regional and urban economic development, migration, and policy assessment and evaluation. Her research has been funded by a wide range of organisations, including government departments and agencies (including the Department for Work and Pensions, the Department for Education, the Home Office [to inform the Migration Advisory Committee) and the UK Commission for Employment and Skills), the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the ESRC and the OECD. Recent research includes an ESRC research project on Harnessing Growth Sectors for Poverty Reduction – including papers on data analysis on employment change, wages and poverty, employment entry, supporting progression in work, improving job quality and the role for policy; reports for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on inclusive growth, improving progression from low-paid jobs at city level and on how cities can connect people in poverty to jobs; and for the OECD on skills for competitiveness and employment and skills strategies in England.

See Anne’s Birmingham webpage for more information.

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Dr Deirdre Hughes - Honorary Associate Professor

Deirdre Hughes OBE specialises in lifelong guidance policies, research and practice at an international, national and regional level. She is a UK expert in lifelong guidance (European Centre for the Development of Vocational Education, 2017 – present) and International Educational and Vocational Guidance (IAEVG) national correspondent. Deirdre is currently advising the Department for Economy, Northern Ireland on the national career guidance delivery model (2022). She also co-developed a new 5-year vision and Careers Strategy in Wales (2021), working closely with Careers Wales and the Welsh Government having previously worked with the Scottish Government on its national Careers Strategy (2020). In England, she is currently Chair of the formal review of the matrix Standard, owned by the Department for Education (DfE) and managed by The Growth Company. Deirdre is co-founder of CareerChat, a national Prize Finalist in the NESTA/DfE Career Tech Challenge (2020-2021), working on innovation in the design and development of a careers chatbot, powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning – CiCi. Her recent research includes assessing the implementation and effectives of career-related learning in primary schools in the Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire areas. She is a consultant to the OECD on ‘career readiness’ in post-primary schooling. Earlier she was an Associate Fellow and Principal Researcher at the University of Warwick, Institute for Employment Research (2008-2019). She was also Co-Editor of the British Journal for Guidance and Counselling: International Symposium Series (2015- 2021). Deirdre is a prolific writer, highly experienced researcher, and senior policy adviser. She hosts a highly successful free webinar series on a wide range of career development, education, employment and skills-related topics.

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Professor Irena Grugulis - Honorary Professor

Photo Irena GrugulisIrena Grugulis PhD FAcSS FCIPD is the Professor of Work and Skills at Leeds University and Associate Fellow of SKOPE (Oxford). She was an ESRC/AIM Fellow and has been funded by the ESRC, EPSRC and EU. She has undertaken policy work and was on the UKCES Academic Expert Panel. She was Editor in Chief of Work, Employment and Society.

See Irena's Leeds webpage for more information

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Professor Ewart Keep - Honorary Professor

ewart keep profileEwart Keep is emeritus chair in education, training and skills at the Department of Education, Oxford University. His research interests include the links between skills demand, supply and utilisation, how work organisation and job design impact on skills utilisation, and how AI and digitalisation is changing demand for skills.

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Dr Erika Kispeter - Honorary Research Fellow

Erika Kispeter is a Research Fellow at the ESRC Centre for Care, based at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Her current research focuses on the changing social care workforce in the UK, exploring, among other topics, the organisation of paid care work; care worker recruitment and working conditions; as well as efforts to improve job and service quality in social care. Erika has a background in Gender Studies and Sociology. She has conducted applied research on gender, work and employment that is relevant to both academia and public policy. She has investigated graduate careers, and the impact of Covid-19 on the education and childcare workforce and gender equality at the intersection of work and care in the UK and in a European comparative perspective. She has led research projects focusing on digital skills in the UK labour market and presented her research on workforce digital skills to the All- Party Parliamentary Group on Digital Skills.

See Erika’s LSHTM webpage for more information.

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Dr Angela Knox - Honorary Associate Professor

Angie Knox

Angela Knox is an Associate Professor of Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations at the University of Sydney Business School. Her research focuses on job quality, precarious work, skills and employment regulation. Her research has been published in numerous top-tier journals, including: Work, Employment and Society, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Human Resource Management Journal, Gender, Work and Organisation and Journal of Industrial Relations. She has also co-edited (with Chris Warhurst) a book on Job Quality in Australia, published by Federation Press. Angela is currently engaged in national and international collaborative research projects in the fields of precarious work, bullying, skills and migration and job quality.

Angela regularly engages with industry, Government and unions and contributes to public debate regarding work and employment. She has provided expert evidence to Australia's Federal Government Senate Inquiry and she is frequently contacted for expert comment by the television, radio and print media.

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Dr Daria Luchinskaya - Honorary Research Fellow

Dr Daria Luchidaria luchinskaya profilenskaya Lecturer at the Department of Work, Employment and Organisation, University of Strathclyde,

Dr Daria Luchinskaya is a Lecturer at the Department of Work, Employment and Organisation, University of Strathclyde. Her research focuses on graduate transitions to employment, skill utilisation and job upgrading, and she teaches across a range of areas related to her research work in Human Resource Management, organisational behaviour and research methods courses.

Daria was a Research Fellow at the Institute for Employment Research, University of Warwick from 2015 to 2019, and was an Early Career Fellow of the Warwick Institute of Advanced Study. Between 2016 and 2018 she was on secondment as a Research Associate at Wales Public Services 2025 in Cardiff.

At the IER, Daria worked on a number of projects related to employment and the labour market, including adults’ participation in training, wider benefits of higher education, and diversity in the British screen industries. During her time at Wales Public Services 2025, she worked on public service financing, focusing on healthcare spend in Wales.

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Dr Chris Mathieu - Honorary Associate Professor

Chris mathieu photoChris Mathieu is Associate Professor of the Sociology of Work and Organisations, Department of Sociology, Lund University. From 2015-2018 he was coordinator (PI) of the Horizon 2020 project QuInnE–Quality of jobs and innovation generated employment outcomes. He currently works on the Horizon 2020 projects Beyond 4.0 (as a member of the University of Warwick team) and DiHeco–Digital Healthcare ECOsystems. He has published in volumes with Cambridge University Press, Routledge, Springer and is currently co-editing the Oxford Handbook of Job Quality. He is also deputy-chair of the European Sociological Association’s research network on the Sociology of the Arts (RN02).

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Professor Rafael Muñoz-de-Bustillo Llorente - Honorary Associate Professor

Munonz de BustilloRafael Muñoz de Bustillo Llorente is Professor of Applied Economics at the University of Salamanca, Spain. With quite diverse research interests, in the last two decades he has concentrated his research and writing in the field of labour economics (including the measure of job quality), immigration and the economics of Welfare state. He has participated in several EU research projects, the last one a H2020 project on Innovation and job quality. He has been Senior Visiting Scholar at the University of North-Eastern (2013), Boston, and European Scholar in Residence at the University of Massachusetts (1998). Since 2004 he has collaborated in 8 different research projects with the ILO.

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Dr Sudipa Sarkar - Honorary Associate Professor

Sudipa is an Assistant Professor in Economics at National Law School of India University, Bangalore teaching at the Master's Programme in Public Policy of the University. Sudipa’s research interests are in the broad areas of Labour and Development Economics. In particular, her research focuses on future of work and social inequality. Her research has been published in several peer reviewed international journals including Research Policy and World Development.

Sudipa was a Research Fellow and later Senior Research Fellow (Assistant Professor) at Institute for Employment Research (IER), University of Warwick from 2017 to 2022. During her time at Warwick she worked on a number of projects related to future of work, job quality, skill building, gender and ethnicity. She has also co-supervised PhD students, supervised MSc dissertations, tutored UG students in IER and Warwick Economics department.

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Dr Erez Yerushalmi - Honorary Research Fellow

Erez YerushalmiDr. Erez Yerushalmi is a Senior Lecturer of Economics and Business in the Business School at Birmingham City University (BCU). He was formerly a Research Fellow at the Institute for Employment Research (IER) from 2012 to 2017. His work focused on development economic issues such as Georgia, CEDEFOP, UNESCO, LMI4All and others.

Erez specialises in Applied Policy Analysis using Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) modelling, econometric forecasting, and other complex quantitative methods. He has over 15 years of professional experience in economic research and consulting and 4 years in project management. Prior to working within academia, he worked for five years in the private sector as an economist in various international consulting firms. (For more info, see Erez’s Birmingham City University profile).

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