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Professor Ruth Patrick

BA, MA, PhD (Leeds)

  • Professor of Social Policy

Visit Professor Ruth Patrick's profile on the York Research Database to see a full list of publications and browse her research related activities.

 

Areas of expertise

  • Poverty, social security and welfare reform
  • Welfare conditionality, sanctions and welfare-to-work
  • Participatory approaches
  • Qualitative longitudinal methodologies

Academic biography

My research is centred on better understanding the (dis)connect between popular and political narratives on poverty and 'welfare' and the everyday, lived experiences for those who rely on social security for all or most of their income. Over the past 15 years, I have employed participatory, qualitative and arts-based approaches to work in partnership with people affected by poverty and the inadequacy of social security systems to both document everyday experiences and - critically - to push for change. I led Covid Realities [www.covidrealities.org], an online, participatory research programme, which worked with over 100 parents and carers on a low-income during the pandemic, and now lead its successor: Changing Realities [www.changingrealities.org]. I also led the first major, mixed-methods investigation of the impact of the two-child limit and the benefit cap on larger families [www.largerfamilies.study], and am currently leading a new programme investigating the relationship between devolution and social security. 

I joined the School for Business and Society in August 2018, and before that was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Liverpool. My doctoral research was completed at the University of Leeds, where I explored the lived experiences of welfare reform. I entered university as a mature student, and particularly value the skills and experiences I have gained from outside the academy. I have worked as a practitioner for Shelter and Foundation (supporting offenders with their housing needs both in custody and following release) and also have employment experiences in the think tank sector (Fabian Society / Institute for Public and Policy Research). These experiences greatly inform the work that I do now.

My current role is part-time and I combine my academic work with the parenting work of looking after my four young children

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Contact details

Professor Ruth Patrick
Professor of Social Policy A/C/114
School for Business and Society

Tel: 01904 321256

@ruthpatrick0