Personal statement

I am Professor of Human Development and Education Policy and Depute Head (Research) at the University of Strathclyde. My work examines how educational experiences shape children's life chances, with particular expertise in educational inequalities, school attendance, child development, and education policy. Drawing on longitudinal cohort studies, linked administrative data, and advanced quantitative methods, I investigate how family environments, school experiences, and institutional contexts influence educational trajectories from childhood into adulthood.

Before joining the University of Strathclyde in 2016, I was a Research Associate at the University of Edinburgh's Applied Quantitative Methods Network (AQMeN), an ESRC-funded initiative to strengthen quantitative social science research in the UK. I completed my PhD in Sociology at the University of Mannheim, where I specialised in life course research, social stratification, and quantitative methods.

My research seeks to understand how educational inequalities emerge, accumulate, and can be reduced across the life course. It is organised around four interconnected themes: educational inequalities across the life course, school attendance and educational engagement, child development and family environments, and evidence-informed education policy. Across these areas, I examine how family background, schools, and public policy shape children's cognitive development, educational achievement, and later-life outcomes.

A major strand of my research has helped establish an internationally recognised programme of research on the causes and consequences of school attendance. Supported by funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Nuffield Foundation, this work has demonstrated how school absence influences educational achievement, post-school destinations, wellbeing, and later labour market outcomes. It has identified when absences are most detrimental, how they contribute to socioeconomic inequalities, and the behavioural and psychosocial pathways through which these effects operate. Alongside this work, I have examined intergenerational educational inequalities, parental occupations and child development, social mobility, graduate labour market outcomes, and the role of education in shaping life chances.

A central aim of my research is to generate evidence that informs educational policy and practice. I work closely with governments, international organisations, charities, and practitioners to translate research findings into policy-relevant evidence. I serve as an OECD International Expert on School Attendance and contribute to a range of national and international advisory groups, including the Scottish Government's Academic Reference Group for the Plan for School Research and the ESRI/Tusla Steering Group on School Attendance in Ireland. My work has informed discussions involving the UK Department for Education, the Scottish and Welsh Governments, and international organisations through commissioned research, advisory activities, policy seminars, and knowledge exchange events.

My publications appear in leading international journals across sociology, education, and developmental science, including American Educational Research Journal, Social Forces, Sociology, Child Development, British Journal of Sociology, Sociology of Education, British Educational Research Journal, and European Sociological Review. My research has also been cited in reports by organisations including the OECD, UNESCO, the International Labour Organization (ILO), the UK Parliament, the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST), RAND, and the Education Policy Institute, reflecting its growing international influence on education policy and professional practice.

Alongside my research, I contribute to the wider academic community through research leadership, research assessment, and peer review. As Depute Head (Research), I lead and support the strategic development of research, research culture, and research excellence across the Strathclyde Institute of Education. I am a Life Course Research Fellow at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course at the University of Queensland, a member of both the ESRC Peer Review College and the ESRC Assessor College, and serve on the ESRC Generation New Era Management Board. I regularly review research proposals for national and international funding organisations, including Research Ireland, the Dutch Research Council, and the Swiss National Science Foundation, and act as a referee for leading journals across sociology, education, developmental science, and social policy.

I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), and my teaching is closely aligned with my research, combining theoretical and applied perspectives on educational inequalities, sociology of education, education policy, and quantitative methods. I convene the Sociology of Education module on the MSc Education Studies programme and supervise doctoral research that combines methodological rigour with practical relevance for education policy and practice.

I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students interested in:

• educational inequalities and social mobility;
• school attendance, educational engagement, and educational outcomes;
• child development and family influences on learning;
• education policy and evidence-informed policymaking;
• sociology of education and comparative education;
• quantitative research methods, longitudinal data analysis, causal inference, and the analysis of large-scale longitudinal and administrative datasets.

For more information, see CV (PDF)