Dr Kit Colliver
Research Associate

Profile

Biography

Kit Colliver is a Research Associate in the York Law School. Their current focus is, ‘Understanding criminal landlordism in the private rented sector and co-producing solutions’, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

Areas of expertise

• housing and homelessness policy
• local government
• qualitative and mixed method research

Career

Kit joined the University of York in 2022 in the School for Business and Society, working on a series of projects including the impact of the UK's cost of living crisis on local authorities. They previously held a Research Fellowship at UWS on a Drug Death Task Force-funded project about the role of Primary Care in preventing drug-related deaths. They have also been involved in delivering an independent review of the Scottish Forensic Mental Health system and have supported a number of projects related to poverty and extreme disadvantage at I-SPHERE, Heriot Watt University.

Kit completed their doctoral studies at I-SPHERE (Heriot Watt University) in 2021, passing their viva with no corrections. Their PhD examined the treatment of different household groups in the homelessness policies of England, Scotland and Wales from a normative perspective. They also hold a MSc in Social Research Methods and a BA in Psychology and Philosophy.

Research

Overview

Kit Colliver has several key research interests, including:

• poverty, inequality and social exclusion
• philosophies of welfare
• normative perspectives in social policy
• queer experiences in social policy

Projects

• 2023-25
  • Understanding criminal landlordism in the private rented sector and co-producing solutions, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.
• 2023
  • Voter ID, the impact on trans and non-binary people in the UK: multi-method (surveys, qualitative interviews) investigation of trans people’s experiences of the UK’s new photo ID laws for elections.
• 2022-23
  • Locale Authorities and the Cost of Living Emergency (LOCALE). Capturing UK local authority responses to the cost of living crisis, in order to understand local variations in support and the longer-term capacity of local authorities to respond to successive crises.

Publications

Selected publications

• University of York Cost of Living Research Group (2023) _Sticking plasters and systemic solutions: Cost of Living responses in the UK._ York: The York Policy Engine. [Contributor]
• Colliver, K. (2023) Incoherent and Indefensible? A Normative Analysis of Young People’s Position in England’s Welfare and Homelessness Systems. _Journal of Social Policy,_ 1-17. doi:10.1017/S0047279423000193
• Colliver, K., Hudson, J., and Lunt, N. (2023) _Local Authorities and the Cost of Living Emergency_ [Policy brief]. University of York. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7965717
• UNICEF (2023) _Too little, too late: An assessment of public spending on children by age in 84 countries._ UNICEF IRC: Florence, Italy. [Contributor] https://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/1747-too-little-too-late-an-assessment-of-public-spending-on-children-by-age-in-84-countries.html
• Watts-Cobbe, B. and Colliver, K. (2022) 'Normative approaches to social welfare scholarship: Existing contributions and future potential', in Adler, M. (ed.) _A Research Agenda for Social Welfare Law, Policy and Practice_: Edward Elgar.
• Colliver, K. (2022) Book review: 'Post-war homelessness policy in the UK: making and implementation', _Housing Studies,_ 37(9), pp. 1734-1735.

Blog posts

• Colliver, K., Barnes. A., Power, M (2023) 'The cost of living crisis can’t wait for the next election: three key issues the UK government needs to tackle now', *The Conversation*, 12 October. Available at: https://theconversation.com/the-cost-of-living-crisis-cant-wait-for-the-next-election-three-key-issues-the-uk-government-needs-to-tackle-now-215379

Recent presentations

• Colliver, K. & Stokoe, A. (2023) 'Disillusioned and disenfranchised? The impact of voter ID on trans and non-binary people in the UK', *Queer Populations and Policies Network seminar series*, Online, 25 October.
• Colliver, K., Hudson, J., Lunt, N. & Meers, J. (2023) 'Local Authorities and the Cost of Living Emergency (LOCALE): Capacity and resilience in local government', *Social Policy Association conference*, University of Nottingham.
• Colliver, K., & Hudson, J. (2023) ‘Exploring the links between punitiveness and political economy: are criminal justice regimes a key dimension of varieties of capitalism in OECD countries?’ *Social Policy seminar series*, University of York.