Professor Robert Walker
Professor of Social Policy
Robert Walker is Professor Emeritus and Emeritus Fellow of Green Templeton College. He joined the Department as Professor of Social Policy in April 2006 when he also became a Fellow of what is now Green Templeton College. He was formerly Professor of Social Policy at the University Nottingham and before that Professor of Social Policy Research, Loughborough University where he was Director of the Centre for Research in Social Policy. He is a Research Affiliate of the National Poverty Centre, University of Michigan and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He was a Member of the statutory UK Social Security Advisory Committee for 10 years until 2012 and chaired the Academic Advisory Committee during the design and launch of the ESRC UK Household Longitudinal Study. He is currently a member of the Expert Advisory Group for the evaluation of Universal Credit.
Throughout his career he has been been that high quality research should be used to inform the political process and to improve policy with the goal of enhancing all our lives. To this end, he undertakes research relevant to the development of welfare policies in Britain and other societies, and engages in dialogue with policy makers and anyone else wanting to use or support research to bring about positive change. Particular research interests include poverty, social exclusion, family dynamics and budgeting strategies, children's aspirations and employment instability and progression. Policy concerns embrace social security and social assistance, welfare to work and labour market policies, policy evaluation and policy transfer - that is the process of learning from experiences in other jurisdictions. He has published 22 books.