Liz is a sociologist who trained as a social researcher with the (then) Government Social Survey before working for many years as a community development worker in inner city Birmingham. Her academic career began as a Research Fellow in the Department of Social Policy and Social Work (now IASS). Throughout her academic career she has maintained her interest in community and third sector activities and has researched in and taught about these areas of interest. Her experience of local community work inspired the development of an undergraduate module which enables students to volunteer in local organisations and projects and learn ‘how policy is put into practice’ on the ground.
She has also had the opportunity to develop her skills and interest in social research, teaching the subject at both under Graduate and Post Graduate levels and collaborating with Dr Bob Matthews in writing a research methods textbook, published in 2010.
More recently her focus has been on the development of a suite of programmes, ‘Putting Policy into Practice’, which has been designed to provide a range of opportunities for government officers and policy officers and researchers from overseas to study in Birmingham. Through this she has developed particular links with government officers and academics in South Korea.
Recent examples of her research include research for NCVO on the voluntary sector and contracting social care services, an action research project involving local people in the GP Commissioning process and local consultations. Following involvement in a participatory evaluation of a neighbourhood project for the Human City Institute she was seconded part-time to be Director of the Human City Institute from 2000-2002. She recently led an action research project involving resident researchers in a local regeneration area and undertook an evaluation of a local Healthy Living Centre Project.
Matthews, B. and Ross, L. (2010) Research Methods: A Practical Guide for the Social Sciences, Harlow, Longman
Kim, Y.D. and Ross, L. (2008) Developing service user involvement in the South Korean disability services: lessons from the experience of community care policy and practice in UK, Health and Social Care in the Community, Vol 16 (2) pp 188-196
Ross, L. (2003) ‘A Tale of Three Cities – an evaluation of the Human Neighbourhood Project’, Report to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
Littlechild, R. and Ross, L. (2000) 'Managing a mixed economy of social care: community care in Britain at the end of the twentieth century' in Doling, J. and Davis, A. (eds) East and West, Ashgate
McCabe, A. and Ross, L. (2000) ‘Framing Our Own Questions: Empowering Patients and Primary Health Care Workers in the Planning Of Primary Health Care Services' in Kemshall, H. and Littlechild, R. (eds) Improving Participation and Involvement in Social Care Delivery, Jessica Kingsley
Kemshall, H. and Ross, L. ( 2000) 'Partners in Evaluation: modelling quality in partnership projects' Social Policy and Administration
Follow this link for further publications by Liz Ross (pdf; 98KB; opens in new window)