I'm really pleased to see this work published. Working alongside colleagues at Scottish Parliament has been a great experience and massive thanks to everyone involved. spice-spotlight.scot/2025/11/05/g...

Our new analysis shows how many children could be lifted out of poverty by 2029/30 if the two-child limit on Universal Credit would be abolished: England: 626,022 children Scotland: 51,036 children Wales: 54,722 children NI: 9,791 children #EndChildPoverty

This week @clemmiehilloconnor.bsky.social & are presenting at the Scottish Government's Public Participation Learning Network our paper on lived experience as evidence. Info on the paper available here in this SKAPE @uoe-sps.bsky.social blog: www.skape.ed.ac.uk/skape-lived-...

New paper with @lisagarnham.bsky.social @profellenstu.bsky.social & @clemmiehilloconnor.bsky.social finds housing 3Cs (context, cost, condition) are recognised by researchers, policymakers & publics but only lived experience accounts centre a 4th C—control: journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/jc...

Thanks to everyone who has already read and engaged with mine and @haylesben.bsky.social new paper ‘Lived experience as evidence in anti-poverty policy making: a governance-driven perspective’ Thought I'd give a summary of the paper here, I've found it useful when others have done this, so here goes

This is great- particularly ‘just basically not being a dick’ - we could do with a bit more of that all round!

Help please: we're trying to recruit some more parent research participants in Scotland for our #FamilyFinances project. Specifically: parents who are receiving #UniversalCredit and #ScottishChildPayment and who have at least one baby (0-12months) in the household. Can you help spread the word?

It's publication day! Very excited to share this article co-authored with @haylesben.bsky.social Lived experience as evidence in anti-poverty policy making: a governance-driven perspective. bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journal...

I'm delighted that this paper has been accepted. @haylesben.bsky.social and I started discussing the ideas in the paper many, many moons ago. Two babies, three reviewers, two rounds of revisions and lots of coffee (me) and tea (Hayley) later I'm excited to be to share this asap!

Delighted to be joining the Exec Committee of the Social Policy Association @socialpolicyuk.bsky.social I've been lucky enough to benefit from involvement in the SPA over the years and excited to get into the work of supporting our great Social Policy community.

Last morning of @easp-spa-2025.bsky.social conference and what a few days it’s been! Returning to Glasgow feeling grateful for fantastic colleagues and the important work they are doing #york2025

Delighted to be at @easp-spa-2025.bsky.social - a packed programme with lots of fantastic looking options. Been a struggle to choose which sessions to attend #york2025

More from me on my work exploring the role of lived experience in the Scottish Parliament. Some early findings I recently presented to parliament staff spice-spotlight.scot/2025/06/25/g...

New #openaccess publication in Youth & Society: Based on focus group research, this paper explores how young people politically active for #ClimateChange, the #BlackLivesMatter movement and #queerfeminism think about personal, collective and institutional agency. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

🚌 Deadline 5pm tomorrow! We all need freedom to travel - but too often our buses are too dear for people on low incomes and don't take them where they need to go. We support public control and ownership of our bus services - you can too! www.getglasgowmoving.org/campaign/srbs/

Really pleased to be able to share this intro to my research as part of an Academic Fellowship with Scottish Parliament. I'm in the midst of data generation and analysis at the moment so was good to return to my initial ideas and motivation. Watch this space for more outputs over the coming months

Check out our newest blog reflecting on our most recent piece of research on social care. The findings of the research highlight urgent challenges in pay, retention & recognition of care as vital, skilled work. A message that's worth repeating this week. www.swbg.org.uk/news/blog/vo...

Just announced by a coalition of Glasgow groups - lunchtime protest outside the local office of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, opposing their call for trans segregation. Friday 2nd May, 12pm-2pm.

Advertising new @unistrathclyde.bsky.social PhD studentship (covers fees + stipend), as part of new ESRC Centre @equalise.bsky.social. We've kept the application as broad as possible as we're keen to support someone to undertake research that they have designed: www.strath.ac.uk/studywithus/... 1/2

[OPEN-ACCESS] Our Co-Editors Ruth Pearce & Kirsty Lohman write in the Editorial for our latest issue, on challenges to global community development practice in the Second Trump Era, on bottom-up organising and information-sharing, and the excellent content available in this issue #CDJ #Editorial

Fantastic funded PhD opportunity @uofgussp.bsky.social with two incredibly supportive supervisors @profellenstu.bsky.social and Prof Sotiria Grek

No government or court ruling can legitimately decide who I am - or, indeed, who I am not.

"In every system that tried to erase us, we created new forms of life" - Dinah Bons

And here is the second thread that is a useful read as we try and work out what on earth all this means.

One of two threads that I have read today that is helping me get my head around what all this means. My heart is heavy and send love to everyone impacted by this ruling.

In response to today's supreme court ruling, we want to urge any researcher in Trans Histories to consider a proposal to our new Queer & Trans Histories series - because research into Trans histories will help to shape Trans futures: manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/series/queer... #TransRights

Deadline for this fully funded PhD opportunity is 5pm on 10th April. Great chance to work with @profsharonwright.bsky.social and @charlp.bsky.social and me!

And while I’m recommending reading- take a look at this. I think lessons for all of us in academia whether we are directly involved in doctoral supervision or not. Care and collegiality is key and feels like an increasingly radical act

I second this!! Well worth a read

We've been talking a bit about this powerful and intense article in our meeting today. It's open access, so is free for anyone to read.

Govt impact assessment estimates that the decisions made today will push an additional 250,000 adults into poverty. I can’t fathom the conversation that was had where they looked at that assessment and said ‘Yep, that’s the plan we’ll go with’

Government’s own analysis shows single women are the largest group to be hit by disability benefit cuts in the #SpringStatement Read our immediate response 👇 www.wbg.org.uk/article/our-...

New article: Navigating Digital Welfare: A Multi-Level Maze? In Social Policy & Administration. I argue that greater conceptual and empirical engagement with welfare state complexity is needed in studies of digital welfare. (OPEN ACCESS) onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Happy ALCS day indeed! It’s my second year and it’s great. Wholeheartedly recommend to any UK writer who hasn’t signed up yet alcs.co.uk

Funded PhD @uofgussp.bsky.social with Professor Sharon Wright, Professor Charlotte Pearson (and me!) - Exploring the Lived Experience of Benefit Reform and the Costs of Disability. Deadline 10 April - please get in touch if you want to discuss this opportunity www.sgsss.ac.uk/studentship/...

Another grant rejection, and yet a lot easier to handle because 1) it was explicitly a lottery (as opposed to the implicit lottery that other grant funding is 2) the email read like it was written by an actual human with feelings and not a one-liner 3) they let me know when they said they would

Some people’s hard work matters more than others. Anyway PIP is an in-work benefit for a lot of people. It’s keeping people in work. It is often also keeping them alive. We are all more than our hard work. Some work is harder for some body minds than others. PIP makes it possible. Makes life livable

"Anyone who isn’t a cishet able bodied white man who thinks that phrase [hard-working people] includes them hasn’t been paying attention" Couldn't agree more @harveyhumphrey.bsky.social -this is language that plays out time and again and is always divisive, stigmatising and totally misses the point

Its been quite the varied day - bovines, followed by a fantastic seminar with Akwugo Emejulu courtesy of @uofgussp.bsky.social and ending with the observation of a meeting as part of SPICe Fellowship looking at the role of lived experience in the Scottish Parliament

Sentences I never thought I’d say - I’m off to observe a bovine clinical examination this morning. Was encouraged to go out of my comfort zone as part of a teaching qualification I’m working towards. This feels a bit too far though…

Seminar alert 📣 Join us on Wed this week to hear from Prof. Akwugo Emejulu, Sheffield University, who will present her work on why & how solidarity fails in white-dominated centre & radical left activist spaces in Europe. 🗓️ Wed, 5 Mar, 3:30-5pm 📍 386AB, Adam Smith Business School (in person)

Urban Studies and Social Policy March Seminar Drawing on 167 interviews and focus groups with women of colour activists in six European cities, Akwugo Emejulu explores why and how solidarity fails in white-dominated centre and radical left activist spaces in Europe. www.gla.ac.uk/events/listi...

A companion piece to "University ‘dude walls’ must fall has been published in the Irish Times: excellent reading https://buff.ly/4hkhfHy #CDJ #IrishTimes

What a time to be currently teaching our social policy UGs about administering social security via digital welfare (including discussion data sharing, privacy, rights, etc). www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Media outlets all reporting 'welcome news' for the government as GDP grows - actually most people don't care about this, and this is not going to change the current position in respect of declining approval and the challenge from Reform at all.

If you're in Edinburgh tomorrow, we have our 2nd social policy seminar of the semester. This one focussed on 'No Recourse to Public Funds' with Dr Lucy Lowe and Prof Beth Watts-Cobbe. 1-3pm, VLR, CMB. No booking required. www.sps.ed.ac.uk/news-events/...

[OPEN-ACCESS] Pushpesh Kumar, Sayantan Datta & Neha Mishra contributed the Editorial for Vol. 59, Issue 2, presenting a critical reflection on queer and trans community-building in post-NALSA and post-337 India buff.ly/3KmAXDQ #CDJ #Editorial

Great (PAID) writing opportunity here for #livedexperience folks from the wonderful @nsunnews.bsky.social

Last week I updated my mega-post "What's wrong with the Cass Review?" with new links to analysis and evidence. I have no illusions about the current political landscape. It will likely take years to undo Cass' act of sabotage. But I am in this fight for the long haul and hope you are too.

Give Hayley an email if you’re interested in joining us online for presentation and discussion of our paper ‘Lived Experience as Evidence’ ([email protected] )