Professor Donald Houston

Professor Donald Houston

Department of Management
Professor of Regional Economic Development.

Contact details

Email
d.houston@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
Birmingham Business School
University House
Edgbaston Park Road
Birmingham
B15 2TY
UK

Donald Houston specialises in local labour markets, in particular unemployment, economic inactivity, health, migration and commuting.  Other research interests include housing, transport and flooding.  He has held a number of research grants and projects funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), charities and local and central government.  He was seconded to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in 2023 and continues an association with ONS.

Qualifications

  • PhD, “Spatial Barriers to Employment Within Metropolitan Areas”, 2002
  • MSc in Transportation Planning & Policy, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 1995
  • BSc (Hons) in Geography, University of Aberdeen, 1993

Postgraduate supervision

Local Labour Markets (especially exclusion from work, migration and commuting); Sustainability (especially water and flood risk management); Transport (especially personal mobility and travel patterns).

Other activities

  • ESRC Grant Assessment Panel (2015-17)
  • ESRC UK In a Changing Europe Advisory Board (2019-22)
  • Research Council of Norway panel member (2019-20)
  • Editorial Board, Work, Employment & Society (2010-13) Advisory Board, Work Foundation (2012-15)
  • National Research Committee, Royal Scottish Geographical Society (2006-10)

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Houston, D & Lindsay, C 2025, 'Reconceptualising labour utilisation and underutilisation with new ‘full-time equivalent’ employment and unemployment rates', Journal of Labour Market Research, vol. 59, no. 1, 5. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12651-025-00396-z

Ayoubkhani, D, Zaccardi, F, Pouwels, K, Walker, S, Houston, D, Alwan, N, Martin, J, Khunti, K & Nafilyan, V 2024, 'Employment outcomes of people with Long Covid symptoms: community-based cohort study', European Journal of Public Health. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckae034

Reuschke, D, Houston, D & Sissons, P 2024, 'Impacts of Long COVID on workers: a longitudinal study of employment exit, work hours and mental health in the UK', PLOS One, vol. 19, no. 6, e0306122. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306122

Houston, D, Lindsay, C, Stewart, R & Byrne, G 2024, 'Local labour markets, workforce planning and underemployment', Economic and Industrial Democracy. https://doi.org/10.1177/0143831X24126132

Reuschke, D & Houston, D 2023, 'The impact of Long COVID on the UK workforce', Applied Economics Letters, vol. 30, no. 18, pp. 2510-2514. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504851.2022.2098239

Chapter

Reuschke, D & Houston, D 2024, Economic Inactivity. in Birmingham Economic Review 2024. Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, pp. 23-26. <https://www.greaterbirminghamchambers.com/campaigns-and-insights/birmingham-economic-review.html>

Houston, D 2024, Inequality. in The State of the UK Economy 2024. The UK in a Changing Europe, pp. 27-30.

Houston, D, Riley, B, Uppal, C, Levermore, M, Singh, K, Anand, H, Pendleton, C, Pugh, A, Schwarz, J & Kitagawa, F 2023, Challenges and opportunities. in Birmingham Economic Review 2023. Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce. <https://issuu.com/greaterbirminghamchamberofcommerce/docs/ber_23_-_chapter_5_challenges_and_opportunities?fr=xIAEoAT3_NTU1>

Houston, D 2023, Unemployment. in H Brealey & R Riley (eds), Birmingham Economic Review 2023. Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, pp. 17-21. <https://issuu.com/greaterbirminghamchamberofcommerce/docs/ber_23_-_chapter_3_people?fr=xIAEoAT3_NTU1>

Commissioned report

Pugh, A (ed.), Stubbs, E (ed.), Riley, B, Hassan, S, Read, H, Bramley, G, Lyons, M, Green, A, Davies, J, Kollydas, K, Ma, H, Houston, D, Billing, C, Kitagawa, F, Ramcharan, M, Reuschke, D, Taylor, A, Kitagawa, F & Blake-Carr, R 2024, Birmingham Economic Review 2024: Summary. Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce.

Data set/Database

Houston, D & Kollydas, K, Economic Inactivity, Health Conditions, Work-Limiting Health Conditions and EU and Non-EU Populations in NUTS3 Regions of the UK, 2018-2021, 2024, Data set/Database, UK Data Service, Colchester, Essex. <https://reshare.ukdataservice.ac.uk/857426/>

Digital or Visual Products

Houston, D, Ramcharan, M & Kollydas, K, Geography matters: Geographical lessons from the COVID Pandemic, 2025, Digital or Visual Products, Time for Geography Ltd. <https://timeforgeography.co.uk/videos-container/geography-matters-geographical-lessons-from-the-covid-pandemic/>

Houston, D, Ramcharan, M, Kollydas, K, Parker, R, Bilbie, E, Parker, T & Carron, J, Geography Matters: Brexit, migration and the UK's economic future, 2025, Digital or Visual Products, Time for Geography Ltd. <https://timeforgeography.co.uk/videos-container/geography-matters-brexit-migration-and-the-uks-economic-future/>

Other contribution

Houston, D, Kollydas, K, Ramcharan, M & Sissons, P 2025, Policy Briefing: Understanding the UK’s Rise in Economic Inactivity Since 2020 Across Local Labour Markets. City-REDI, University of Birmingham. <https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/centres-institutes/city-region-economic-development-institute/publications/2025/understanding-the-uks-rise-in-economic-inactivity-since-2020>

Other report

Riley, B (ed.), Green, A (ed.), Kitagawa, F (ed.), Bramley, G (ed.), Billing, C, Kollydas, K, Lyons, M, Davies, J, Hassan, S, Ma, H, Taylor, A, Pugh, A, Read, H, Blake-Carr, R, Houston, D, Kitagawa, F, Ramcharan, M, Blake-Carr, R, Hoole, C, Rafique, A, Schwarz, J & Cepeda Zorrilla, MR 2024, The WMREDI Story: Successes, Challenges, Achievements and Impact.

View all publications in research portal