Personal statement

Ian Greener is Professor of Social Policy at Strathclyde, having started in February 2016. Previously Ian has worked at the Universities of Durham, Manchester and York.

My research is concerned with how policy (especially health policy) is made and implemented, exploring these topics through a range of methods all of which are based in social science. I am especially interested in how policymakers try and explain and justify what they want to do, and how this relates to evidence that academic and practitioner researchers have constructed, and how we can evaluate policy in better ways - especially using realistic frameworks. Most recently I have become interested in how we might change people's behaviour to make the world a little better for us all - with the tools suggested by the 'nudge' approach being particularly interesting to me. My research has been funded by the National Institute for Health Research and the ESRC (amongst others) in the past.

In terms of academic leadership I have held a number of roles. I was Executive Director of the Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing at Durham, leading on developing strategy for how the Institute could help deliver University strategy. I was a Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor (at Faculty level) at Durham, taking on a number of portfolios including leading postgraduate programmes there, as well as providing support and peer-review in the run up to the 2013 REF. I was also the Director of the ESRC North-East Doctoral Training Centre, being one of the successful bidding team in 2010/11 and, with the help of colleagues at Newcastle University, leading on setting the DTC on a sound footing after that date, with a number of aspects of our activities being regarded by the ESRC as being best practice. 

I welcome PhD applications in any area of social policy, and have a strong record in getting students to submit on time successfully.