Dr Benjamin Hopkins

• PhD Industrial Relations, University of Warwick
• MA Industrial Relations and Personnel Management, University of Warwick
• BA Economics and Management, University of Oxford

• PGCTHE Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Dr Benjamin Hopkins is a member of the Organisation, Work and Employment group in the Department of Management, Birmingham Business School. Having read Economics and Management at St Hugh’s College, University of Oxford, he worked at Cadbury-Schweppes and BBC Television News before completing an MA in Industrial Relations and Personnel Management at the University of Warwick. His PhD was also awarded by the University of Warwick, with some research being conducted while at the University of California. Following this he worked at Aberystwyth University, then moved to the University of Leicester in 2015 where he was promoted to Associate Professor in 2017. He joined the University of Birmingham in 2019.

Dr Hopkins’ research interests are centered on experiences of the workplace, and in particular the impacts of the intersection of migration and non-standard forms of work. He has also researched transitions into work by young people, voluntary work, wage inequality, and working conditions and pay bargaining in the public sector as part of the BARSOP project.

Dr Hopkins’ research has been funded by the ESRC, ASSEC, UnionLearn, Critical Management Studies, Aberystwyth University, the University of Leicester, and the European Commission. He has been consulted or appeared on television programmes for BBC One, S4C and Channel 4, and has also written for The Conversation. His research has been reported in over 350 media outlets, including The Telegraph, The Times, The Daily Mail, The Daily Express, The Independent, The Western Mail, International Business Times, People Management, Russia Today, The Daily Star, and The Watford Observer.

Dr Hopkins is currently module co-ordinator for:

• International Human Resource Management for MSc International Business
• International Human Resource Management for MSc Human Resource Management

Dr Hopkins has supervised two doctoral students to completion. He is interested in supervising PhDs investigating:

• Non-standard work, including temporary and agency work
• Migration
• Work in food manufacturing and agriculture
• Voluntary work
• Young workers
• Work in the police and prison services

Research interests

• Migration
• Non-standard work
• Food manufacturing
• Wage inequality
• Work in the public sector

Current projects

• The impacts of Brexit on work and employment in food manufacturing
• Migrant work in the western United States
• Burnout in police officers