Professor Adele Atkinson

• PhD in Human Geography (2010)
• BSc (Hons) in Economics and Accounting with Law (2000)

Adele joined CHASM as a Professor of Practice in Financial Literacy and Wellbeing in CHASM in 2022, where she has a multifunctioning role, leading and undertaking research, and disseminating the findings within academic and policy domains. Adele’s research interests are primarily around understanding the needs of financial consumers and identify policy solutions in relation to their financial literacy, inclusion and wellbeing. She also teaches on the CHASM MA Module Financial Inclusion and Wellbeing: A Social Policy Perspective and supervises PhD students.

She developed and honed her research skills in three research environments at the University of Bristol, spanning Economics, Education and Geography, where she addressed a wide range of policy relevant topics, from the introduction of Performance-related Pay in schools to the challenges facing the Child Support Agency and its clients. Adele also worked for many years with International Organisations (in particular the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development – OECD), with a particular focus on financial literacy, inclusion and wellbeing. Adele’s work at the OECD involved providing research evidence and guidance to respond to the policy priorities of global leaders and regulators, particularly via the International Network on Financial Education (INFE), the Insurance and Private Pensions Committee and Committee on Financial Affairs and the G20 Global Partnership on Financial Inclusion. Deliverables included the OECD/INFE Toolkit for measuring Financial Literacy and Inclusion and PISA financial literacy assessment, a report on the levels of financial literacy across G20 countries, and various research outputs and recommendations and policy guidance on related topics.

Adele has also been working freelance since 2020, contributing to the research programmes of various international organisations and financial service foundations, as well as universities and regulators. Outputs have included a new UN Capital Development Fund survey tool to measure digital and financial literacy and guidelines on financial consumer protection during a crisis, for the Alliance on Financial Inclusion.

Financial Wellbeing and Inclusion: a Social Policy Perspective

Adele is interested in supervising PhD students studying financial precarity and the financial challenges facing different groups within the population.

Current Students:

• Chenyu Bao
• Carl Packman
• Sarah Usman

Research Interests

Adele's interest lies in finding effective solutions to problems related to individual and household financial management, including their financial literacy, inclusion and wellbeing. She is interested in developing relevant measures, evaluating programmes and considering comprehensive policy solutions looking at both the demand and supply side of financial services. She believes that we need to further explore the mechanisms that lead to better financial wellbeing, including those operating within the household and those related to culture and current context. In this regard, Adele is looking at financial precarity and the financial challenges facing different groups within the population.

Current and recent projects

Adele is currently co-leading the new Financial Inclusion Monitor alongside Professor Martin Coppack, with CHASM Research Fellow Mhairi Webster. The Financial Inclusion Monitor will ensure there is a robust measurement of what it means to be financially included in the UK today, through new survey data and secondary analysis, which will be mapped to the Government’s new Financial Inclusion Strategy, to provide a comprehensive measure of progress. The Financial Inclusion Monitor is a five year project funded by Trust for London and Andrew and Caroline Fisher.

CHASM’s Adele Atkinson and Amalia Di Girolamo (BBS) are currently developing and implementing a Field Experiment exploring the impact of financial education content on financial wellbeing. The study is in partnership with The Money Charity and ClearScore Group as part of a larger project funded by the Aviva Foundation.  

Alongside CHASM’s Dr Louise Overton and Kris Fuzi, Adele is contributing to work to understand the implications of precarious employment among lower-wage workers, as part of the Workforce Economic Inclusion and Mobility (WEIM) Project at CSD, which is funded by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Foundation.

Adele is also contributing, alongside Louise Overton, to a Netspar-funded project led by Leiden University in the Netherlands on 'Preventing financial vulnerability during retirement.'

She also contributed to a recently completed three-year project led by Leonore Riitsalu (University of Tartu), looking at 'A Human-centred Approach for Increasing Financial Well-being of Individuals and Society,' funded by the Erste Foundation.

In 2025, Adele and Martin Coppack delivered a summary of recent literature looking at potential policy levers for financial inclusion, on behalf of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). This work was prepared for an internal audience of regulators seeking to learn from international experiences and academic analyses.

Adele completed a one-year project with CHASM academics in collaboration with the Financial Inclusion Commission to explore the state of financial inclusion in the UK in 2024 and highlight steps that could be taken to reduce exclusion.

She also led the design of the survey questionnaire and analysis guide for the UN Capital Development Funds project on digital and financial literacy in the Pacific, providing technical guidance throughout the implementation. She remains involved in an advisory capacity as the project expands to other areas, including Africa and the Caribbean.

• Member of the OECD International Network on Financial Education’s Research Advisory Group Netspar Fellow
• Research Associate of the G53 Financial Literacy and Personal Finance Research Network (G53 Network)
• Member of the Cyprus Scientific Committee for the Development of a National Strategy on Financial Literacy
• Judge for the Money Awareness and Inclusion Awards
• Member of MaPS Research & Evaluation Group