I can’t envisage a child poverty strategy which garners any credibility without fully scrapping the two-child limit. Unconvinced? Check out (even better share) this summary of the peer-reviewed evidence base @kittyjstewart.bsky.social @aaronreeves.bsky.social largerfamilies.study/publications...

Using my first Bluesky post to share that Marsha Wood & I have a new article out! 🎉 We take a gendered street-level look at how Universal Credit policies shape parents’ everyday realities of navigating work, care & welfare. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Found this a v useful set of provocations on quali analysis and gen ai.

Prof. Virginia Braun (she/her they/them)@ginnybraun.bsky.social · last yr.

Here's a talk I gave as a keynote for the BPS @qmip.bsky.social conference (July 2025) - the result of @vicclarke.bsky.social & I recognising we needed to "dive in" & grapple with the beast that is GenAI & qualitative/(reflexive) thematic analysis www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zFQ...

Articles that comprise a new Special Issue (in the Debates in Social Welfare in the Journal of Social Welfare & Family Law) are accessible via early online view. Edited by @jedmeers.bsky.social & @haylesben.bsky.social the SI includes 5 papers examining the ‘interface first welfare state’ ⬇️

The DWP are advertising for a new intake of academic secondees. This is the role I'm currently doing - happy to talk to anyone about what it's like! www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/jobs.cgi...

Been lots of debate about what might turn the dial on child poverty. But we hear far less from families in poverty. Our new briefing sets out a blueprint for a successful child poverty strategy, grounded in experiences of hardship changingrealities.org/writings/get... Pls read + share this 🧵

This autumn will see the publication of the first UK child poverty strategy in many years. It is a time-limited and vital opportunity to make real and lasting difference to the lives of the 4.5 million children currently living in poverty. In this new report, co-produced with IPPR, we set out a realistic and targeted agenda for change. Now is the time to take sustainable and effective action on child poverty, working with the everyday experiences of families who know what would make a difference to them and their lives.

changingrealities.org

Delighted to have a piece in The Conversation today. Can centring lived experience in activism weaken collective action? And why is the far right starting to use this language too? theconversation.com/lived-experi... #activism #livedexperience @theconversation.com

‘Lived experience’ is valued in activism – but is it doing more harm than good?

Activists without ‘lived experience’ can feel unsure of their place.

theconversation.com

Critical perspectives on lived experience in social security policy research | Find out about the workshop organised by @benbgeiger.bsky.social & @katesummers.bsky.social aimed at fostering a network of experts, practitioners & academics in the field sticerd.lse.ac.uk/case/_new/re...

We've published a new article "Claiming deservingness: The durability of social security claimant discourses during the Covid-19 pandemic" journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... @benbgeiger.bsky.social @lisa-scullion.bsky.social @davidhjyoung.bsky.social @danieledmiston.bsky.social

Essential from @benbgeiger.bsky.social inequalities.substack.com/p/progressiv...

A progressive agenda on the medicalisation of mental health

Some theoretical groundwork to start paving the way towards an alternative to cuts, and towards a better, more inclusive society more broadly

inequalities.substack.com

Presenting my PhD research at the CASE #socialexclusionseminar this week on 26th March. The study focuses on children and families' experiences of receiving Asylum Support in the UK & how asylum employment restrictions affect children & young people.

STICERD & CASE @ LSE@lse-sticerd-case.bsky.social · 2y ago

In our upcoming #SocialExclusionSeminar on 26/03 @ilonapiron.bsky.social will talk about children and families’ experiences of poverty and material deprivation within the UK’s Asylum Support system. Find out how to attend in the link below. sticerd.lse.ac.uk/case/_new/ev...

Funded PhD @uofgussp.bsky.social with Professor Sharon Wright, Professor Charlotte Pearson (and me!) - Exploring the Lived Experience of Benefit Reform and the Costs of Disability. Deadline 10 April - please get in touch if you want to discuss this opportunity www.sgsss.ac.uk/studentship/...

Full essay available here: medium.com/@craig.berry...

Focus on the causes, not the symptoms

The forthcoming disability benefits green paper could exemplify a new approach to welfare — instead it is likely to apply the same old…

medium.com

open.substack.com/pub/inequali... @benbgeiger.bsky.social summarises some of our WASD project work on benefits conditionality. Inc making some sense of mismatched reports of v widespread vs. low levels of conditionality.

Just how common is benefits conditionality?

There are newspaper claims that conditionality is rare, but wider claims conditionality is ubiquitous – this post explains how both can be true.

open.substack.com

Indentured: benefit deductions, debt recovery &and welfare disciplining - Daniel Edmiston's webinar topic next week (23rd, 11am) as part of @i-sphere.bsky.social /Centre for Homelessness & Inclusion health series. Please share & join us. All welcome! i-sphere.site.hw.ac.uk/event/i-sphe...

I’m entering the final stages of data collection on research I’m doing into disability employment. If you have a physical disability and are UK based, I’d be especially grateful to hear from you. The survey is at: cambridge.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_... #AcademicSky #Disability

As part of #SpeakingTruthToPower, Stef, Penny, Steve, Tracy & Wayne spoke at a Nov LSE conference led by @katesummers.bsky.social & @bengeiger.bsky.social about how to work with people with experience of poverty. We loved hearing from @changingrealities.bsky.social & @ruthpatrick0.bsky.social.

Ooh I'm glad you found this. I found a copy in the National Library of Scotland (it's also in the Science Museum) and wrote a wee article about what I thought about it nilq.qub.ac.uk/index.php/ni...

Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly

The Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly is a legal research journal published quarterly by the School of Law at Queen's University Belfast.

nilq.qub.ac.uk

I got the chance to visit the DWP archives this morning while I'm on secondment there. It was so interesting. In the snapshot I saw, there's a striking focus in earlier material on raising public awareness and take up! Some highlights.

New friends on Bluesky I am running #creativemethods #readinggroup with The Binks Hub - we meet every Thursday morning and are open to all. Last one of term today. Pls send recommendations for readings 4 next year binks-hub.ed.ac.uk/join-our-cre...

Are you concerned by excessive inequality and elite power? Are you in central London tonight (or have online access?). Then come to this amazing panel! www.lse.ac.uk/Internationa...

From rage to riches: how fixing wealth inequality defeats populism

Wednesday 27 November | 18:30 to 20:00 | LSE III Public Event with Liam Byrne MP, Professor Jonathan Hopkin, Dr Faiza Shaheen and Professor Mike Savage

lse.ac.uk

Interested in running collaborative events stimulating developments in methods on AI, socio-environmental sciences or big qualitative data analysis? Financial and administrative support provided. Submit your EoI. www.ncrm.ac.uk/news/show.ph...

NCRM News | Researchers invited to express interest in running methods innovation events

NCRM is inviting researchers to express their interest in running collaborative events that stimulate imaginative developments in methods.As part of our Innovation Fora programme, we are asking resea

ncrm.ac.uk

Ok, I've caved & joined the starter pack bandwagon These are people who will be interesting & useful to follow as the new government sets out its plans around social security, work & poverty Sorry if I've missed off good people - will add to it as more come to mind or join go.bsky.app/8WEVftJ

Recent blog on Universal Credit and simplicity w @davidhjyoung.bsky.social blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

The perils of Universal Credit’s simplicity

One key rationale behind the design of Universal Credit is administrative simplicity. But that apparent simplicity ends up concealing the complexity of people’s different lives and circumstan…

blogs.lse.ac.uk

Let me know if you’d like to be added (or want to come out) go.bsky.app/7YAhtdD