Dr Alison Jarvis is a ‘new career’ researcher, despite being relatively old and relatively experienced. Alison previously commissioned and managed research for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), where she specialised in how various social policy spheres relate to locality and ‘place’. Having overseen academic research projects for many years, Alison moved to Teesside in order to get hands-on experience as an actual researcher. Her core interests are in how concepts of social justice relate to housing, planning and neighbourhoods.

Alison is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences and Law, teaching on under- and post-graduate sociology and research method modules. She is also undertaking research for her former employers, JRF.

Alison’s current research focuses upon the impact of current and potential policy measures on areas and neighbourhoods which experienced significant de-industrialisation in times of economic buoyancy. She is also interested more generally in the interplay between poverty, place and people’s caring responsibilities, especially in the context of ageing and declining populations.

Alison has recently completed her first piece of contract research, funded by the Association of North East Councils (ANEC), which examined the impact of welfare reform in the North East.

She has significant experience of designing evaluation studies of policy and practice, and her employment history encompasses working for local authorities and for voluntary sector agencies. Alison was part of the Editorial Board of the ‘Housing, Care and Support’ journal, and has served on a number of Government advisory bodies relating to housing, disability and ethnicity. She is also a long-standing Board Member of North Star Housing, a housing association based in the Tees Valley.

Enquiries for contract research and consultancy in any of her spheres of interest are welcome. Similarly, Alison is available for PhD supervision for these themes.