Sophie Mackinder

Research Database

Sophie is a Lecturer in Global Social Policy and International Development in the School for Business and Society, where she is Programme Director of the online MPA in International Development. She completed her PhD in 2018 at the University of York, before joining the department as a lecturer. Her PhD research looked at the evolution of and potential interactions between two agendas in the World Bank – fragile states and social protection – in order to explore the relative influence and significance of ideas, interests and the institution itself in shaping development policies. Her ongoing research interests seek to bridge the gap between the social policy and international development disciplines, by exploring how ideas around social policies are conceived and developed within powerful global international development institutions and networks, and how these ideas are translated into policy and implemented within development contexts, with a particular focus on social protection.

Her additional research interests include how transnational corporate actors seek to influence public policy; she is currently working with Dr Chris Holden and Dr Ben Hawkins (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) on a project that examines the strategies used by transnational tobacco companies to influence public health policies on standardised packaging for cigarettes.