Dr Annie Irvine
Lecturer in Social Policy and Public Management

Profile

Biography

• BA (York)
• MSc (Open University)
• PhD (York)

Areas of expertise

• Mental health in social context
• Work and mental health
• Welfare-to-work policy and practice
• Qualitative research methods

Academic biography

My research focuses on the complex interplay of mental health, welfare systems and employment. I am interested in exploring the interpersonal, socioeconomic and structural influences on capacity for work and transitions between employment and welfare in the context of mental distress. Understanding the context and complexities of lived experience is essential to improving the effectiveness of policy approaches and interventions. Throughout my research, I seek to bring critical and conceptual lenses into productive dialogue with real-world policy and practice.
 
I joined the School for Business and Society in early 2024. Prior to this, I was a Research Fellow at the ESRC Centre for Society and Mental Health, King's College London, leading the development of qualitative research projects within its Work, Welfare Reform and Mental Health programme. Earlier in my research career, I spent twelve years as a Research Fellow in the Social Policy Research Unit at the University of York.

Professional activities

• Affiliate of the ESRC Centre for Society and Mental Health
• Editorial Board Member - Qualitative Research (Journal)
• ESRC Peer Review College member

Research

Projects

I am currently working on two funded research projects.

• Support2Work is an evaluation of the effectiveness of Employment Advisers within NHS Talking Therapies services. This is a mixed-methods study in collaboration with the Centre for Health Economics and a number of external organisations. Our qualitative workstream is gathering experiences of service users, Employment Advisers and NHS therapists, to understand the mechanisms through which Employment Advisers influence service users’ trajectories of absenteeism, presenteeism and re-entry to the labour market. Support2Work is funded by NIHR’s Work and Health Research Initiative and runs from April 2025-March 2028.
• A longitudinal mixed-methods study exploring what the concept of bureaucratic justice can do for mental health services. This research will use an innovative combination of a longitudinal quantitative and qualitative data, along with participatory storytelling methods, to develop a new understanding of the nature and relevance of just treatment in how people interact with frontline administrative processes in primary care mental health services. The six-year project, beginning January 2026, is funded by a Wellcome Discovery Award and led by Professor Joe Tomlinson, King’s College London.

Other recent projects include an ESRC-funded qualitative secondary analysis exploring conceptualisations of mental distress among UK welfare benefit claimants and a qualitative longitudinal study of transitions between work and welfare, for people with experience of mental health problems. I also have an ongoing collaboration with local third-sector organisation Better Connect, and have helped with evaluation of a number of their employability programmes for people with complex barriers to work.

Research team members

Jane Suter

Levana Magnus

Jed Meers

Rowena Jacobs

Teaching

Undergraduate

Researching Policy and Society - SPY00036I

The Policy Think Tank - SPY00040I-S1-A

Independent Study Module - SPY00003H-S1-2-A

Postgraduate

Exploring Policy Research - SPY00157M

Independent Study project - SPY00155M

Other teaching

PhD supervision interests

Work and health

Employment support

Welfare reform and health/disability benefits

Qualitative longitudinal methods

Biographical and narrative methods

Publications

Full publications list

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