Dr Katharina Sarter

Research interests

As a Political Scientist with core research interests in the field of the political economy of the Welfare State and the future of work and welfare. Studying regulation, policy-making and implementation, Katharina's current research investigates the use of public procurement as a tool for fostering social policy goals and impact of digitalisation on employment, social security, and public services.

Academic profile

Dr Eva Katharina Sarter is an experienced researcher, a dedicated lecturer and supervisor and deeply comitmed to theory-led reserach with impact. Holding a Doctorate in Political Science from the Free University of Berlin in Germany, Katharina has worked in different universities in Germany and the UK,held Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Catholic University Louvain (Belgium), and was Visiting Fellow at different universities, including the University of Nottingham, the Centre for Globalisation and Governance at the University of Hamburg and the National University of Ireland Galway. Katharina is regularly engaging with various non-academic stakeholders and involved in a range of national and international networks and collaborations.

Throughout the years, Katharina has gained teaching experiences and experiences in supervision at different levels in Germany and the UK. At IER, Katharina is Director of Graduate Studies of the interdisciplinary PhD in Employment Research and involved in supervision of PhD students. Katharina welcomes new opportunities for supervising PhDs and is particularly interested in questions relating to digitalisation, sustainable public procurement, public adminsitration and public services.

Current projects

• Creating a new State of the Labour Market Index (SLMi) for the UK; with Peter Elias, Chris Warhurst, Terence Hogarth, Trine Larsen, Sangwoo Lee, Gill Dix and Ashwin Kumar; Funded by the Joseph Roundtree Foundation; Project duration: February 2025 - January 2026

• Integrated Systems Approaches for Accelerating a Just Transition (JUSTSystems); with Philip Taylor and Emily Erickson; Project funder: UKRI; Project Duration: February 2025 - January 2030

• Creating Healthy Jobs; with Chris Warhurst, Gill Dix, Sangwoo Lee, Carla Toro & Jason Madan & Sophie Staniszewska, Mike Tildesley, Lena Al-Khudairy & Amy Grove, (University of Birmingham), Kevin Daniels (University of East Anglia), , Melanie Jones (Cardiff University), Funded by the National Institute for Health Research; Project duration October 2024 to September 2026
• The Impact of Accumulating Policy Goals on Implementation. The Case of Public Procurement; Project Funder: University of Warwick; Project duration: November 2024 - October 2025
• New challenges for occupational safety and health in times of the digital transformation in Europe: the role of digital labour platforms, with Trine Larsen, Chris Warhurst, Beate Baldauf, Jamelia Harris and Sangwoo Lee and Stef Poole, Funded by CHANSE; Project duration: 2022 - 2025
• BEYOND 4.0 - Inclusive Futures for Europe BEYOND the impacts of Industrie 4.0 and Digital Disruption, Link opens in a new windowith Prof Chris Warhurst, Dr Sally Wright and Prof Chris Mathieu (Lund University), led by Steven Dhondt (TNO). Funded by European Commission. Project Start Date: 01/01/2019 - Project End Date: 30/06/2023

All projects

Selected publications

Wright, T., Conley, H., Mamode, J. C. and Sarter, E.K. (2025). From social justice to social value: The changing fortunes of using public purchasing for social ends. Public Policy and Administration, 0(0). Online First.

Erickson, E., Buchanan, J., Sarter, E.K., Warhurst, C., and Tumurchudur Klok, B. (2025). Building skills ecosystems for sustainable productivity improvements . International Labour Office, Geneva. pp.: ILO's Global Employment Policy Review 2025; No named editor; Chapter 7 pp 151 - 180.

Sarter, E. K. and Cookingham Bailey, E. (2025). Spatiality of Service Delivery in the Covid19 Pandemic: Transcending Spatial Boundaries or Accommodating Logistical Challenges? Social Policy & Administration Location and Publisher.

Sarter, E.K. (2025): "Gleichstellungsorientierte öffentliche Auftragsvergabe: Zentrale Elemente und Perspektiven." in: Berghahn, S. and Schulz, U. (eds.) : Rechtshandbuch für Frauen- und Gleichstellungsbeauftrage. Recht von A-Z für Frauen- und Gleichstellungsbeauftragte in der öffentlichen Verwaltung, in Unternehmen und in Beratungsstellen. Hamburg: DasHöfer, no page.

Forde, C., Sarter, E.K., Baum, T., Dundon, T., Howcroft, D., Joyce, S., McBride, J., Shildrick, T., Stuart, M., Trappmann, V. Wilson, T. and Wright, S. (2024). Pay and conditions in gig work. Evidence Paper. ReWAGE and Warwick Institute for Employment Research.

Sarter, E.K. (2024): "Öffentliche Auftragsvergabe und Geschlechtergleichstellung in den deutschen Bundesländern." In: Europäisches Zentrum für Föderalismus-Forschung Tübingen (ed.): Jahrbuch des Föderalismus 2024. Föderalismus, Subsidiarität und Regionen in Europa. Baden-Baden: Nomos, 233- 245.

Sarter, E.K. (2024): "Marketization, Regulation, and Equality: Towards an Analytical Framework for Understanding the Equality Impact of Public Procurement." Social Politics, 31(1): 1-21.

Sarter, E.K. (2024): "Public procurement and labour market inequality: Conceptualising a multi-faceted relationship." Journal of Industrial Relations, 66(1): 130-152.

Sarter, E.K. and Cookingham Bailey, E. (eds.) (2023): Understanding Public Services. A Contemporary Introduction. Bristol: Policy Press.

Sarter, E.K. (2023): "The Challenge of Knowing: Public Procurement between Unilateral Knowledge Dissemination and Participatory Knowledge-Creation." In. Nyeck, S.N. (ed.): Gender, Vulnerability Theory and Public Procurement: Perspectives on Global Reform. Abingdon: Routledge, 12-28.

Wright, T., Conley, H., Mamode, J. and Sarter, E. K. (2023): "Buying social justice through procurement: report of project findings." London: Queen Mary University of London.

All publications

Selected presentations

Hidden Debates: Public Procurement as a Venue for Negotiation. Workshop The Regulatory Governance of Public
Procurement: Assessment of the Research Field and the Ways forward, Free University Berlin, 2024.

Wohlfahrtsstaatliche Dienstleistungen zwischen Staat und Markt: Zur politischen Dimension der Vergabe öffentlicher Aufträge. Conference of the Centre for European Gender Studies (ZEUGS), University of Münster, 2024.

Resilient in the face of crisis: The work of third sector organisations during the pandemic in Wales and Scotland. People Place and Policy Conference, Sheffield, 2023.

How can public services face a changing world?, Social Policy Association Conference, University of Nottingham, 2023.

Public Procurement as a Policy Tool for Advancing Equality: Developments in Scotland and Wales., Social Policy Association Conference, University of Nottingham, 2023.

Improving Employment Conditions and Promoting Worker’s Rights in Global Supply Chains: Strategic Public Procurement as a Regulatory Tool. Cardiff Employment Research Unit Conference ‘Global Value Chains and their Employment Relations Consequences’, Cardiff, 2018.

All conference presentations

Teaching

Katharina is an experienced lecturer with broad experiences of and a passion for teaching in Higher Education. Katharina has successfully designed and delivered undergraduate and postgraduate modules at different universities in Germany and Great Britain, acted as a Course leader for an interdisciplinary social science program of study, and has successfully supervised undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations in Germany and the UK. Katharina has extensive experiences in supervising dissertations. The focus of Katharina's teaching and supervision activities lies in the field of public and social policies, political economy, welfare state research, comparative research, employment, and research methods.

External activities

• Member of Steering Committee of the Doctoral Education and Academia Research Centre (DEAR)

Other information

Languages: German, English, French, Spanish, and courtesy level Welsh.