A student spontaneously knocked on my office door today: she was in the building studying, she had a question, and I was there in my room. If you've spent any time with me over the past two years and endured my rants about the state of UKHE, you'll know why this is such a GOOD THING on many levels!🙌🏽

Job opportunity - we need a fab new colleague to do quant research on work, welfare and mental health within @kingscsmh.bsky.social (closes 8 Feb) This is funded until Apr/28, but we'll support you in bids to extend it - please do circulate to suitable ppl! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQD294/p...

Postdoctoral Research Associate in Work, Welfare & Mental Health at King's College London

Apply now for the Postdoctoral Research Associate in Work, Welfare & Mental Health role on jobs.ac.uk - the leading job board for higher education jobs. View details.

jobs.ac.uk

NEW: Cuts to non-health-related benefits caused increases in disability benefit claims, our new report finds. 📗 Jonathan Cribb, @heidikarj.bsky.social, @eduinlatimer.bsky.social, Sam Ray-Chaudhuri and Tom Waters examine the impact of four cuts to benefits in the 2010s [THREAD:🧵]:

The policy challenge of mental health and economic inactivity is not leaving the headlines, now with a new inquiry launched into the particular issues facing younger people. Here I am again, banging the drum for a more holistic approach: blogs.york.ac.uk/sbs-spotlight/ @drsoapsub.bsky.social

Making the benefits system meaner has backfired. The punitive PIP system is leaving disabled people too afraid to try work. It’s time to overhaul the broken assessment process. Read our new report here: https://z2k.org/pip-report/

Ending the Culture of Fear - Z2K

Ending the Culture of Fear: Reforming the PIP assessment system to get decisions right first time Much of the political and media debate about Personal Independence Payment (PIP) has focused on the idea that it’s too easy to qualify. A new report from Z2K – Ending the Culture of Fear: Reforming the PIP assessment system

z2k.org

wellcomecollection.org/stories/nhs-...

NHS night cleaners

NHS night cleaners are often not seen and not heard by the public they serve. Through Lewis Khan’s photographs and interviews, they reveal the vital role they play in keeping our hospitals safe.

wellcomecollection.org

Mental health problems are real. But they’re rarely people’s only barrier to work. People with experience of mental distress describe a wide range of social, economic, relational and structural barriers to work – in addition to the challenges posed by symptoms. It’s more than a mental health issue 🧵

Crucial message from Citizen's Advice: "When both working full-time and claiming maximum benefit entitlement leaves one in a low-income limbo, focusing on making the former slightly more financially beneficial than the latter is only ever going to have a limited impact on outcomes..." (1/2)

Very thought-provoking article on the sometimes uneasy (and perhaps not uneasy enough) relationship between social science and lived experience @drcrmatthews.bsky.social you might enjoy link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Engagement and qualitative sociology in health research: proximal, but incongruent - Social Theory & Health

This paper argues that sociology’s distinctive value in health research lies not in amplifying experiential accounts but in analysing the social structures and norms that shape them—a contribution oft...

link.springer.com

This was an excellent piece of exploration and analysis seeking a better understanding of how to engage residents in the LCWRA group in an initial conversation about work. Sign up to hear the key lessons learned! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/camden-emp... @spaemploysocsec.bsky.social

Job opportunities on both the amazing @changingrealities.bsky.social and @safety-nets.bsky.social projects!

Prof Ruth Patrick@ruthpatrick0.bsky.social · last yr.

🔥Not one, not two, not three, but FOUR job vacancies now live working at @uofglasgow.bsky.social on @safety-nets.bsky.social @changingrealities.bsky.social with some amazing colleagues first: a research assistant post on Changing Realities www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNQ284/r... 🧵for links to vacancies

It's a busy time on @d-liveability.bsky.social! We are hiring a 12 month #postdoc Research Fellow to contribute to #qualitative analysis of suicide prevention policies + parliamentary debates: elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

Two Policy Assistant roles available for people just starting out in this sector. Could be a great opportunity for those just about to graduate from @uoysbs.bsky.social

Are you a post-doctoral researcher with strong qualitative skills, a critical mind and a love for digging into the complexities of how people navigate work and health? Check out our vacancy at the Uni of York School for Business and Society: jobs.york.ac.uk/vacancy/rese... @uoysbs.bsky.social

I've been thinking for a while that we should be talking more about the "social determinants of work". David Kingsley has got there first; great piece naming "the social determinants of employability" - housing insecurity, digital exclusion, mental health, access to care www.myiep.uk/blogs-and-op...

Detached but Not Disengaged: Reframing Employability Practice Through Community-Rooted Youth Work - The Institute of Employability Professionals

28/05/2025

myiep.uk

For all the recent focus on incentives in the benefits system, it's a lack of suitable & supportive jobs that prevents many disabled people moving into work This online @neweconomics.bsky.social event (June 19th 10am) will explore the changes needed to fix this www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/its-not-me...

Want a 3yr quali postdoc job leading the UK fieldwork for an amazing international project on how it feels to claim benefits? And also to do important work on benefits and mental health? Then see this job ad! Closing date being changed to 8th June www.kcl.ac.uk/jobs/114985-...

Postdoctoral Research Associate in Welfare Experiences & Mental Health

kcl.ac.uk

This looks like a super-cool postdoc for people interested in #qualitative #mentalhealth research and the interactions between #mh and #welfare www.kcl.ac.uk/jobs/114985-...

Postdoctoral Research Associate in Welfare Experiences & Mental Health

kcl.ac.uk

NEW ANALYSIS: A rise in financial hardship is a key driver of the increase in benefit claims. These new figures cast serious doubts on the government’s justification for cutting disability and incapacity payments. 1/10

Great opportunity for a postdoctoral researcher with interests in work, welfare and mental health to work with the excellent @benbgeiger.bsky.social at the Centre for Society & Mental Heakth www.kcl.ac.uk/jobs/113328-...

Postdoctoral Research Associate in Work, Welfare & Mental Health

kcl.ac.uk

PLEASE SHARE! We are looking for info about providing effective support to young mothers and birthing parents (aged 25 and under) in the perinatal period. We are looking for papers/reports/evaluations/blogs/commentaries. Send to: sw-perinatal-research@york.ac.uk. Information: perinatalsupport.co.uk

Improving perinatal support for young mothers and birthing parents: a University of York Research study

An NIHR Research Programme for Social Care Funded study based at the Mental Health Social Care Research Centre, University of York

perinatalsupport.co.uk

@lucyfoulkes.bsky.social Murdoch, L. (2025). The adverse impacts of all-institutional mental health and wellbeing policies on university careers guidance. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 1–16. doi.org/10.1080/0306...

The adverse impacts of all-institutional mental health and wellbeing policies on university careers guidance

Sixteen careers advisers based in five Scottish universities were asked a range of questions designed to explore possible impacts of alterations in student mental health and wellbeing on their prac...

doi.org

“You can’t order people’s recovery from the top down, you can’t batter them with sanctions towards work.” Well said Andy Burnham: inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Labour's 'punitive' disability benefits cuts won’t work, says Andy Burnham

The Mayor of Greater Manchester accused Labour of pandering to 'certain newspapers'

inews.co.uk

Some thoughts on mental health, capacity for work, and the end of the WCA - based on in-depth qualitative research involving claimants with lived experience of mental health problems…

The Conversation UK@uk.theconversation.com · last yr.

Mental ill health is rarely the sole factor preventing people from finding and keeping a job.

Spread the word! Exciting new fully funded PhD opportunity to research disabled people's lived experiences of benefit reform and the costs of disability. Deadline: 10 April @uofglasgow.bsky.social @uofgussp.bsky.social @uofgsps.bsky.social @sgsss.bsky.social @clemmiehilloconnor.bsky.social

Really wise reflections from @catherinehale.bsky.social plus don’t miss the link to her excellent new research!

Catherine Hale@catherinehale.bsky.social · 2y ago

Sharing my response to the #GetBritainWorking White Paper that I posted over on Linkedin in a thread. A cautious welcome: It positions the high numbers of people not working, or seeking work, for reasons of health and disability (notice I don’t use the term ‘inactive’?) as a key problem > 1/9

medium.com/@ayaz_manji/...

I'd really encourage you to read this short article if you are remotely interested in the rise of mental-health related work inactivity - very thoughtful from @annieirvine.bsky.social www.health.org.uk/features-and... (cont)

Please read this important thread from @pollardtom.bsky.social if you would like to understand the complexities behind some misleading statements

Tom Pollard@pollardtom.bsky.social · last yr.

This, from a DWP press release yesterday (gov.uk/government/n...), is outrageous In two short paragraphs it peddles multiple falsehoods about the current system that will be used to justify upcoming cuts & changes Here's what MPs & journalists should be challenging... 🧵

@uoysbs.bsky.social

Resolution Foundation@resolutionfoundation.org · last yr.

📢 Are you or someone you know considering a career in the think tank sector? We're hosting an online webinar for those interested in the sector, aimed particularly at those from under-represented groups. Find out more and sign up here👇 https://buff.ly/3CYMwky