Projects per year
Personal profile
Research interests
I am a Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Centre for Poverty and Social Justice in the School for Policy Studies.
My research focusses on how gender and family structure relate to inequality and poverty. I am co-Investigator of the ESRC funded research centre on Micro-Social Change (MiSoC) and lead Principal Investigator on a cross-country comparative project, funded by the NORFACE Dynamics of Inequality program, on how inequalities evolve over the life course together (with colleagues in Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland, and Germany), and co-investigator (with Silva Avram, PI) on an ESRC project on pay progression and gender equality. Other recently funded projects include research for the Low Pay Commission on the minimum wage and earnings progression, and for the Government Equalities Office on occupational downgrading following childbirth. Previous research has been funded by the ESRC, the Nuffield Foundation, OECD, and Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
I am a visiting professor at the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion at the London School of Economics and the topic champion for social policy at Understanding Society. I was previously the Associate Director for Policy, Understanding Society, and Professor of Public Policy at ISER, University of Essex. I previously worked at the Universities of Bath, Sussex, and the London School of Economics and hold a Ph.D. in Economics from UCL, a MA from Sussex University, and a BA from Cambridge University.
Recent Grants
ESRC (2020-2022), “The gender gap in pay progression: job mobility and job ladders” (co-investigator with S. Avram, Principal Investigator, and D. Popova), £298k.
ESRC Research Centre on Micro-social change (MiSoc), 2019-24, Co-Investigator and research lead on labour markets and institutions. £7.8 million.
Low Pay Commission, ‘The Living Wage, wage progression and wage differentials,’ April 2018- September 2020, £60k, Co-investigator, with Silvia Avram (ISER).
NORFACE Dynamics of Inequality Across the Lfecycle (DIAL), EQUALIVES, 2018-2021, Euros 1,430,000, Susan Harkness (Principal Investigator), with co-investigators Anette Fasang (Humboldt), Jani Erola (Turku), Mads Meier Jaeger (Copenhagen) and Thomas Leopold (Amsterdam).
Government Equalities Office, “Occupational Downgrading after Childbirth,” July 2018-April 2019, £23k (Principal Investigator, with Co-Is Magda Borkowska and Selcuk Beduk, ISER).
ESRC Seminar Series (2015-2018), Child Poverty and Social Mobility, 2014-2017, £30,000, Susan Harkness (Principal Investigator) with Lynn Prince Cooke, Paul Gregg, Lindsey Macmillan and Matt Dickson (CIs) and the Child Poverty and Social Mobility Commission.
ESRC Secondary Data Analysis Initiative, 2013-2014, Changes in the Nature and Consequences of Lone Parenthood, Susan Harkness (Principal Investigator) & Paul Gregg, 2013-2014, £196,000.
Nuffield Foundation, £49k, 2013-2014, Partnership Dissolution and Formation, co-investigator with Mike Brewer, Principal Investigator, Essex.
Joseph Rowntree Foundation, £10k, 2011, The Causes of Poverty, Susan Harkness (Principal Investigator) with Paul Gregg and Lindsey MacMillain (Bristol)
Nuffield Foundation, £96k, 2010-2011, Lone Parents, Depression and Work, Susan Harkness Principal Investigator. Work in collaboration with Martin Evans (Oxford) and Gingerbread.
ESRC Placement Fellowship, £33k 2009-2010, Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, Cabinet Office.
OECD (2009-2010), The Future of Families to 2030 (lead author on Low-income Families and Social Cohesion), E30,000.
External positions
Visting Professor, London School of Economics and Political Science
Scientific Advisory Board member and Social Policy Topic Champion, Understanding Society, University of Essex
Keywords
- women's employment, gender pay gap, single mother families, poverty, inequality, welfare policy
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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EQUALLIVES: EQUALLIVES: Inequality, early adult life courses and economic outcomes at mid-life in comparative context
1/04/18 → 1/04/21
Project: Research
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Learning in a pandemic: Primary school children’s emotional engagement with remote schooling during the Spring 2020 Covid-19 lockdown in Ireland
Chzhen, Y., Symonds, J., Devine, D., Mikolai, J., Harkness, S. E., Sloan, S. & Martinez Sainz, G., 12 Feb 2022, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Child Indicators Research. 15, 4, p. 1517-1538 22 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review
Open AccessFile6 Citations (Scopus)21 Downloads (Pure) -
Single mothers’ income in twelve rich nations: differences in disadvantage across the distribution
Harkness, S. E., 1 May 2022, (Accepted/In press) In: Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review
Open AccessFile19 Downloads (Pure) -
The accumulation of economic disadvantage: The Influence of Childbirth and Divorce on the Income and Poverty Risk of Single Mothers
Harkness, S. E., 5 Jul 2022, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Demography. 59, 4, p. 1377-1402 26 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review
Open AccessFile2 Citations (Scopus)43 Downloads (Pure)
Activities
- 1 Participation in conference
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European Consortium for Sociological Research 2022
Lisa C Waddell (Speaker) & Susan E Harkness (Participant)
6 Jul 2022 → 8 Jul 2022Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference