I joined Strathclyde Business School under the Chancellor’s Fellowship Scheme, which supports high-quality research and impact. My academic interests centre around skills, jobs and working life. Prior to joining academia I worked in the voluntary and public sectors for 15 years.

My research has a strong public policy/KE focus. I am an international consultant on the UNDP project Bridging the Skills Gap to Create New and Better Jobs, and recently served as a member of the OECD Expert Advisory Group on the project Better Using Skills in the Workplace (in collaboration with the Department for Education and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy – see report). I am also a Board member of the Centre for Work-Based Learning (CWBL), which aims to drive cultural change and create demand for work-based learning in Scotland. The Centre was founded by Skills Development Scotland (SDS) and we work in partnership to influence policy, practice and perception of work-based learning.

My research expertise lies in the broad area of skills, jobs and working life, and centres on three main themes 1) skills, skills utilisation and skill ecosystems 2) labour market transitions, social mobility and equality 3) decent/fair work, the future of work and green jobs. I have a sustained track record of leading, managing and delivering high-quality research, and securing research income from a range of funders (e.g. the British Academy/Leverhulme, United Nations, Equality Challenge Unit, Skills Development Scotland).

Examples of current/recent research include:

• Skills needs in construction, textiles and renewables
• Graduating in a pandemic
• Fair work in modern and graduate apprenticeships
• Meta/future-skills mapping
• The chef skills shortage crisis
• Developing advanced manufacturing skills
• Changing demand for green jobs and skills
• Women in new green jobs (wind turbine jobs/roles)
• The professionalisation of intermediate occupation
• Occupational segregation in higher education institutions
• Skill ecosystems in context

Skills, skills utilisation, systems of skill formation, skill ecosystems

Labour market transitions

Social mobility and equality

Decent/fair work

The future of work, digitisation

Green jobs and skills

BA (Hons) in Psychology and Sociology (Strathclyde), Postgraduate Diploma in Alcohol Studies (Paisley College of Technology), MSc in Occupational Psychology (Strathclyde/Heriot-Watt), PhD in Human Resource Management (ESRC Case Studentship, Strathclyde), Chartered Occupational Psychologist (British Psychological Society), Practitioner Psychologist (HCPC).

I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, director of HRM honours and class coordinator and/or lecturer on the following undergraduate and postgraduate modules:

Work Psychology for Human Rource Management

Work, Employment and Society

Research Methods

Labour and Diversity in a Global Context