The World of Work Today
Jonathan Bradshaw, Harriet Harman, Ashwin Kumar, Ian Preston and Katie Schmuecker

• Friday 16 June 2017, 10.15AM to 11.30am
• Free admission
  Booking required
• Ron Cooke Hub, University of York (map|getting to campus)
• Wheelchair accessible

Event details

Following a keynote speech from Harriet Harman MP, members of our expert panel, including Jonathan Bradshaw of the University of York, discuss the changing world of work from job insecurity to zero hours contracts and under-employment. How safe do we feel in our work? How has immigration actually affected the UK labour market?

Speakers:

• Jonathan Bradshaw, University of York
• Harriet Harman MP (October 1982 to May 2017)
• Ashwin Kumar, Joseph Rowntree Foundation (Chair)
• Ian Preston, UCL
• Katie Schmuecker, JRF

Please note that Harriet Harman will be signing books BEFORE the event. Please arrive in plenty of time if you would like a signed book.

About the speakers

Jonathan Bradshaw is Emeritus Professor of Social Policy at the University of York. He was founding Director of the Social Policy Research Unit from 1973 to 1987 and served two terms as Head of Department, 1988 to 1994 and 2003 to 2007. He also served as Director of the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences 1994 to 1998. He retired in 2014.

Jonathan’s research has focused on social security policy, living standards, comparative social policy, child poverty and child well-being. He is currently the UK Coordinator for the European Union Social Policy Network. He is a Trustee of the Child Poverty Action Group and Chair of their Social Policy Committee. He was appointed Academician of the Learned Societies for the Social Sciences in 1996, Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 2005 for services to child poverty and Fellow of the British Academy in 2010. In 2011 he was made Doctor of the University of Turku, Finland (honoris causa) and in 2015 Doctor of the University of Bath (honoris causa).  For more details see http://bit.ly/22r1KBs

Ashwin Kumar is Chief Economist at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) and leads the organisation’s Analysis Unit. Launched in January 2016, the unit researches and analyses data on how social, economic and public policy changes are affecting people and places in poverty. Ashwin’s areas of expertise include work, tax, housing, income and benefits, wealth, benefits and modelling.

Ashwin has 19 years of experience in economics and social policy gained in the public, private and charity sectors. He joined JRF in July 2016 from Liverpool Economics, a Merseyside-based economics consultancy which specialises in public policy, labour markets, consumer issues and taxation. Prior to this he worked as a Senior Economic Adviser at the Department of Work and Pensions, and as Rail Passenger Director at Passenger Focus. He also has expertise in housing as a board member of St Mungo’s homelessness charity, the New Charter housing group and the National Housing Federation. @KumarAshwin

Ian Preston is Professor in the Department of Economics at University College London (UCL). He is a Research Fellow of the Institute for Fiscal Studies and is Deputy Research Director for the Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration. Ian’s main research interests are in applied microeconomics, particularly migration, consumer behaviour, income distribution, taxation and public spending, and sport. His interests in the economics of migration concern especially the impact on receiving countries and the nature of attitudes towards immigrants.

Katie Schmuecker is Head of Policy at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), where she leads the process of developing public policy ideas that are rooted in JRF’s evidence base. She is one of the authors of JRF’s ‘We Can Solve Poverty’ report, which was described as a landmark report by BBC Home Affairs Editor Mark Easton. Her expertise spans work; poverty; income adequacy; welfare to work; and the cost of living. She is a regular commentator in the media, through blogs, articles and broadcast appearances.

Prior to joining JRF, Katie was Associate Director at the Institute for Public Policy Research North (IPPR North) where she carried out research and authored reports on regional economic development, neighbourhood renewal and UK devolution. She has also worked for the Campaign for the English Regions, the Yes campaign for an elected North East Regional Assembly and for an MP.

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