• PhD in Employment Research, University of Warwick
• MLitt in Geography, University of Newcastle upon Tyne
• BA (First Class Honours) in Geography, University College London

Anne joined the University of Birmingham in June 2017 from the Institute for Employment Research (IER) at the University of Warwick. A geographer by background, Anne has substantial experience of researching employment change (by sector, occupation and geography), non-employment, skills, regional and local labour market issues, inclusive growth, migration and commuting, and associated policy issues.

Current and recent research concerns:

• Growth sectors
• Inclusive growth
• Labour migration and spatial mobility
• Skills and local skills strategies
• Employment change
• Technological change and implications for employment, skills and training
• The geography of employment and worklessness
• Transitions into and within employment
• Social networks and place attachment
• Policy evaluation

Most of Anne’s research is applied in nature. Funders have included Government Departments and agencies (the Department for Employment, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Home Office (Migration Advisory Committee), Foresight at the Government Office for Science, the UK Commission for Employment and Skills and the other national and sub-national agencies. Internationally, Anne’s research has been funded by the OECD and the European Commission.

Anne has contributed to evaluations of welfare-to-work programmes and area-based initiatives and led the national evaluation of the City Strategy initiative. In 2016 she led a study on inclusive growth for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation focusing on international cities. She has also undertaken research funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on linking people in poverty to jobs, low pay and progression, what labour market projections mean for different ethnic groups, and on young people and place attachment. A recent Economic and Social Research Council project was concerned with ‘Harnessing Growth Sectors for Poverty Reduction’. ‘Other recent and current research projects focus on local skills strategies and on productivity and low-pay.’

Anne has previous experience of teaching on post-experience courses on employment and labour market research.

I am interested in supervising PhD students in the following areas:

• Spatial dimensions of employment change  and local labour market issues
• Skills
• Migration and geographical mobility
• Inclusive growth

Research interests

• Employment change (by sector, occupation and geography), non-employment, skills, regional and local labour market issues, skills strategies, inclusive growth, migration and commuting, urban and regional development, and associated policy issues 

Selected current and recent projects

• Productivity from Below: Addressing the productivity challenges of microbusinesses (ESRC)
• Employment Support Framework: Desk-based research (West Midlands Combined Authority)
• Business, Professional and Financial Services outside London (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy)
• From productivity to prosperity: Inclusive growth for the West Midlands (ESRC)
• UK Futures Programme: Longer-term Evaluation (Productivity Insights Network)
• Skills Advisory Panels Feasibility Study (Department for Education)
• Investigation into the Foundations of Productivity for Business, Professional and Financial Services in the West Midlands Combined Authority Area (West Midlands Combined Authority)
• Rural Workforce Response to the NHS Workforce Strategy to 2027 (Health Education England via United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust)
• Local Skills Study (Department for Education)
• Do low-paid workers gain when firm productivity increases? (Joseph Rowntree Foundation)
• Migration in the UK Construction and Built Environment Sector (Construction Industry Training Board)
• Precarious pathways to employment for young people? Unpaid, temporary and involuntary part-time work in transitions from education to employment (ESRC)
• Harnessing growth sectors for poverty reduction (ESRC)
• International policy and practice review: how do cities lead an inclusive growth agenda?(Joseph Rowntree Foundation)
• QUINNE – promoting understanding of how better work leads to innovation and more and better jobs (Horizon 2020, European Commission)
• UK Skills System – three evidence papers on (1) training, employability and gaps in provision, (2) how aligned are public policy and employer views of evidence provision, and (3) local skills traps (Skills and Lifelong Learning Evidence Review, Foresight, Government Office for Science)
• Local job creation (OECD)
• ICT4EMPL – ICT for Employment (European Commission)
• CROWDEMPLOY - Emerging forms of ICT-enabled employment organisation and finance, and the potential impact on employability in the networked society (European Commission)
• Talent Match Evaluation and Learning Contract (contributor to a larger project commissioned by the Big Lottery)

Anne currently holds/ has held a range of expert roles:

• Member of Employment Support Framework Taskforce for the West Midlands Combined Authority
• Member of Technical Reference Group for the West Midlands Combined Authority Productivity and Skills Commission (Lead on Skills)
• Expert for the OECD’s Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) programme
• Expert Panel member – UK Commission for Employment and Skills
• Lead Expert Group member for Government Office for Science Foresight project on ‘The Future of Manufacturing’
• Contributor to Government Office for Science project on ‘The Future of Skills and Lifelong Learning’
• Expert Panel member – Department for Communities and Local Government Economic Regeneration Panel
• Advisory Committee/ Network member for Royal Society of Arts’ Commission on Inclusive Growth  and member of Joseph Rowntree Foundation Network on Inclusive Growth
• Member of the Royal Geographical Society Policy Advisory Group
• Member of the Wolverhampton Skills and Employment Commission
• Member of West Midlands Combined Authority Employment Support Taskforce

Other professional positions:

• Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences
• Fellow of the Regional Studies Association
• Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts

Previous academic research positions at:

• Institute for Employment Research (IER), University of Warwick
• Department of City and Regional Planning, University of Cardiff
• Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS), University of Newcastle upon Tyne