Maddy Power
Wellcome Trust Research Fellow / Assistant Professor

Profile

Biography

Maddy Power is a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow/Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Sciences at the University of York. Maddy works in participatory ways with national and local government, civil society organisations, community groups and other academics on policy topics relating to healthy sustainable livelihoods and inequality.

Maddy has interdisciplinary public health experience, with expertise in the following areas:

• The lived experience and health consequences of food insecurity and food inequalities
• Issues of inclusion and marginalisation in food charity and public health policy around food
• Poverty and social security
• Participatory methods
• Participation, power and influence as (political) determinants of health

Maddy has published widely on these topics in leading journals such as Journal of Social Policy, Critical Social Policy, International Journal of Social Research, and Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Recent books include Hunger, Whiteness and Religion in Neoliberal Britain: An Inequality of Power (Policy Press, 2022); A Year Like No Other: Life on a low income during Covid-19
(Policy Press, 2022) (with Ruth Patrick and colleagues); and Covid-19 Collaborations (Policy Press, 2022) (with Kayleigh Garthwaite and colleagues).

Prior to working at York, Maddy held posts in the Third Sector including The Equality Trust, the Resolution Foundation and 38 Degrees. Maddy is a trustee of the Independent Food Aid Network and founder of the York Food Justice Alliance.

Qualifications

• BA (Hons) Social and Political Sciences, University of Cambridge
• MSc (Hons) Social Policy (Research), London School of Economics and Political Science
• PhD Health Sciences, University of York

Maddy is currently accepting PhD students interested in food insecurity, food charity, social security and poverty, health inequalities, and participatory methods.

Departmental roles

• Deputy Programme Lead for MSc Health Research (from September 2023)
• Deputy module lead for Qualitative Health Research
• Member of the DOHS Contract Research Forum, 2017 to present

Research

Overview

Maddy works in participatory ways with national and local government, civil society organisations, community groups and other academics on policy topics relating to healthy sustainable livelihoods and inequality. Maddy has interdisciplinary public health experience, with particular expertise in the following
areas:

• The lived experience and health consequences of food insecurity and food inequalities
• Issues of inclusion and marginalisation in food charity and public health policy around food
•  Poverty and social security
• Participatory methods
• Participation, power and influence as (political) determinants of health

Maddy has led and contributed to a variety of studies using on a range of longitudinal qualitative and quantitative and participatory methodologies. She adopts critical approaches to her research, drawing on critical race theory, feminist scholarship, and ideas around governmentality. Maddy’s research has been funded by the Wellcome Trust, the Economic and Social Research Council, the National Institute for Health Research, the Nuffield Foundation, and aberdeen Financial Fairness Trust. She currently holds a Wellcome Trust fellowship in Humanities and Social Science, is methodological lead of the participatory research programme, Changing Realities, and is a Workstream Lead for Fair Food Futures.

Projects

• Food for Thought: Understanding ethnic variations in the prevalence and experience of food
  insecurity and its interaction with mental health: A mixed-methods longitudinal research
  programme. Funded by a Wellcome Trust Fellowship in Humanities and Social Science (2021-
  2025)
• Changing Realities: Documenting life on a low income and pushing for change. Funded by
  the Aberdeen Financial Fairness Trust (2022-2023)
•  Fair Food Futures. Funded by the National Institute of Health Research (2023-2025)
•  Covid Realities: Document life on a low income during the Covid-19 pandemic. Funded by
  the Nuffied Foundation (2020-2022)
•  Food insecurity and food aid in multi-faith / multi-ethnic Britain: advancing research and
  policy debates. Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (2019-20)
•  IKnowFood: Integrating knowledge for food systems resilience. Funded by the BBSCR, ESRC
  and NERC (2016-2021)

Research group(s)

• Public Health and Society

Supervision

Maddy is able to supervise masters dissertations and PhD projects on the topics outlined above.

Publications

Full publications list

• Maddy Power's publications

External activities

Memberships

• Social Policy Association
• Member of the EQUAL North network: collaborative research on health inequalities 
• Member of Equal England: Research and Practice Network
•  Trustee of the Independent Food Aid Network
•  Founding member of the York Food Justice Alliance

Media coverage

• Food Aid: Metro, The Express, The Yorkshire Post, The Telegraph and Argus (1), The Telegraph and Argus (2), BBC Radio Leeds, BBC Radio York, BBC Asian Network, United Christian Broadcasters
• Inequality and tax policy: The Guardian
• Income inequality in the UK: The Independent
• Health inequalities in the UK: The Independent