Professor Rod Hick

Publication

• Date
• Type

Research

Most of my work falls under two over-arching themes. First, I am interested in how social problems are conceptualised, measured and understood, and in the role that social scientists can play in these processes. I believe that social policies must be understood in terms of both their economic and non-economic consequences, as Richard Titmuss argued, and this leads to concerns with value (especially in relation to human need), multidimensionality, complexity (and the possibility of reduction), measurement and monitoring and, ultimately, politics. These concerns inform my work on the conceptualisation and measurement of poverty and writings on the capability approach.

Second, I am interested in processes of welfare state change and, in particular, social security reform and what these mean for poverty and deprivation. This entails attention to the economic, demographic and political drivers of social problems, to debates about the nature and extent of policy change (e.g. do we observe retrenchment, recalibration or resilience?), and to the limits of what Stein Ringen called the ‘possibility of politics’ to achieve positive change. This opens up interests in comparative welfare state change, with processes of devolution and welfare state rescaling, and with social security reform.

Ongoing Projects

Co-Investigator, 'The dynamics of low-quality work, in-work poverty and subjective well-being: a longitudinal study of Switzerland and the UK', Swiss National Science Foundation, CHF 421,437 (~£375,000, PI: Prof. Eric Crettaz, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, 2024-2025).

Co-Investigator, 'Social security in a devolved UK: realities, risks and opportunities for families', Nuffield Foundation, (£1,130,359; PI Prof. Ruth Patrick, University of York, 2024-2026).

Co-Applicant, Evaluation of the Welsh Basic Income Pilot, Welsh Government, £799,000 (PIs: David Westlake and Prof. Sally Holland, Cardiff University, 2022-2027).

Completed Projects

Principal Investigator, ‘Housing matters: A comparative study of the relationship between housing and poverty in Europe’, Economic and Social Research Council (£200,439, with Dr Marco Pomati and Prof. Mark Stephens, 2019-2021).

Co-Investigator, ‘Understanding the impact of Universal Credit on the Council Tax Reduction Scheme and Rent Arrears in Wales’, Welsh Government (£117,814, Lead partner: Policy in Practice, 2019-20).

Co-Investigator, ‘In-work poverty in New Zealand’, New Zealand Human Rights Commission, NZ$107,000 (~£55,500, PI: Prof Gail Pacheco, Auckland University of Technology).

Co-Applicant, ‘Transnational transformations in social protection - concepts, instruments and contexts’, GW4 Alliance, £71,708 (PI: Dr Rana Jawad, University of Bath, 2016-2017).

Principal Investigator, ‘‘The best route out of poverty? A study on in-work poverty and policy in the UK’, Nuffield Foundation, £47,459 (2016-2017).

Principal Investigator, ‘Getting the measure of poverty in the Philippines and Vietnam’, ESRC Impact Acceleration Account – Global Challenges Fund, £5,905 (2016).

Co-Applicant, ‘New Paradigms of Social Protection’, GW4 Alliance, £7,525 (2016).

Principal Investigator, ‘Retrenching Social Security in Ireland: The role of the IMF as a policy actor, 2010-2013’, British Academy Small Grants Scheme, £2,373 (2014-15).

Team Leader and Principal Investigator, Independent Review on the Commissioning and Provision of Social Services to Older People in the City & County of Swansea, City & County of Swansea, £25,629 (2014).

Principal Investigator, ‘The politics of UK Government welfare reform’, Cardiff Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme (CUROP) [internal Cardiff University competition for funding for research assistance], £1,360 (2014).

Teaching

I teach at undergraduate and postgraduate levels and, at present, make contributions to:

Undergraduate

 - Poverty and Social Security in the UK (Stage 2, Convenor)

 - Social Research Methods (Stage 2, Quants section)

 - International and Comparative Social and Public Policy (Stage 3)

Postgraduate

 - International and Comparative Social and Public Policy (M Level)

I was the Social Policy teaching team lead from Sept 2023 to Jan 2025, completing a second stint in that role. As of early 2025, I am leading the revalidation of the MSc Social and Public Policy, which looks to improve and extend provision of that Master's for a five-year period from 2026. 

Biography

I have long-standing interests in poverty and living standards: in how we understand them, how they are evolving, and how policy can seek to improve them. This interest was informed by some of my earliest graduate jobs at the (now disbanded) Combat Poverty Agency and Homeless Agency in my native Dublin and some experiences as a student working for a charity in India. It was also the subject of my doctoral work at the London School of Economics. 

The geographical frame of my work reflects the places I've lived or have spent signiciant time in. I have a strong interest in social policy developments in the UK and Ireland, including trying to compare the evolution of their welfare states. I've also spent fairly significant amounts of time living in the Philippines and in Korea and I'm interested in the extent to which the themes from my work on European societies relate to other international settings to.

Honours and awards

Winner - Foundation for International Studies on Social Security (FISS) / Intersentia Best Paper Prize 2015. Paper Title: The Coupling of Disadvantages: Material Poverty and Multiple Deprivation in Europe before and after the Crisis. [Prize was awarded for the best paper presented at the 2015 FISS conference in Hong Kong, China].

Professional memberships

• Social Policy Association
• Housing Studies Association
• Human Development and Capability Association

Speaking engagements

Invited presentations only

2023    ‘Housing and poverty in Europe’, Housing policy and wealth inequality workshop, Luxembourg Income Study & Luxembourg Institute of Socio-economic Research, Belval (Luxembourg), 28^th-29^th November.

   –       ‘Housing and poverty in Europe’, Personal Finance Research Centre 25^th anniversary conference, University of Bristol, 8^th November.

   –       ‘Severe housing deprivation in the European Union: A joint analysis of measurement and theory’, ‘The social dimension of housing in the EU’ seminar, European Commission, Brussels (Belgium), 23^rd May.

2022    ‘Housing affordability and poverty in Europe: On the deteriorating position of market renters’ (online), Poverty & Policy Working Group, Bocconi Uni (Italy), 5^th October.

   –       ‘The problem of in-work poverty: what is it and how should we respond? – Lessons from UK and international studies’ (online), Yonsei University (South Korea), 4^th April.

   –     ‘In-work poverty in the UK’, Forum on Welfare State and Social Policy (online), Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou (China), 19-20^th March.

2021    ‘Poverty as capability deprivation’, Advanced poverty research methods course, Bristol Poverty Institute (online), 2^nd November.

   –    ‘In-work poverty and COVID-19: Tackling poverty after the pandemic’, Bristol Poverty Institute (online), 21^st October.

   –         ‘In-work poverty: On transitions in and out of working poverty and the anti-poverty effects of Tax Credits’, Online event hosted by WISERD for staff at the Department for Work and Pensions, March 23^rd.

2020    ‘Insecurity before and after COVID-19: Work, social security, housing and poverty’, Event hosted by the Nuffield Foundation, London, November 25^th.

   –       ‘Benefits in Wales: opportunities and challenges for social security devolution’ (as discussant), Online, November 24^th.

   –    ‘COVID-19 and Social Policy through the lens of the Great Recession: Is this time different?’ (with Amílcar Moreira), Presentation at Ministry of the Economy, Lisbon (Portugal). July 13th.

2019    Presentation on Universal Credit and in-work poverty, Global Social Security Forum, Seoul (11^th Dec) and Sejong City (12^th Dec), organized by the Korean Institute for Health and Social Affairs (South Korea).

   –       ‘In-work poverty in the UK: Moving in and out of working poverty and its association with subjective well-being’, Department of Social and Policy Sciences seminar series, University of Bath.

   –        ‘Tackling in-work poverty: From large-scale surveys to community responses’, Big  Lottery Fund Helping Working Families Learning & Networking event, Porth.

2018    ‘The measurement of in-work poverty and why it matters: International approaches and UK evidence’, Ministry of Social Development, Wellington (New Zealand).

   –       ‘In-work poverty in the UK: Trends, tax credits and transitions’, presentation at the Centre for Housing Assets and Savings Management, University of Birmingham.

   –       ‘Poverty isn’t working? In-work poverty in the UK: Past, Present, and Future’ (with Alba Lanau), presented at 5^th Peter Townsend Memorial Conference, University of Bristol.

   –     ‘Inequality, disadvantage and the capability approach: Bridging conceptual framework and empirical analysis’, presented at ‘Ambivalences of the rising welfare service state’ symposium, Hannover (Germany).

2017    ‘Poverty in Europe in the shadow of the Great Recession: Specifying a social minimum – and working out how to achieve it’, presented at the ‘Specifying and securing a social minimum’ workshop at the International Institute for the Sociology of Law at the University of Oñati (Spain).

   –       ‘Material poverty and multiple deprivation in Europe before and after the Great Recession: Analysis, reflections and implications for the capability approach’, Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative seminar series, University of Oxford.

2016  ‘The coupling of disadvantages: Material poverty and multiple deprivation in Europe before and after the Great Recession’, University of the Philippines School of Economics seminar series, Manila (The Philippines).

   –       Presentation on In-work poverty in the UK, event organised by the European Foundation for Work and Living Conditions, The Hague (Netherlands).

   –       ‘Poverty statistics and the Understanding Society survey’, Royal Statistical Society,        Cardiff.

   –    ‘Working and poor, but for how long? An analysis of in-work poverty transitions in the UK’ (with Alba Lanau), presented at ‘In conversation with Profs. Hout, Grusky and Snipp’, Cardiff University.

   –     ‘The rise of in-work poverty in the UK’ (with Alba Lanau), presented at the Child Poverty and Social Mobility Seminar Series, University of Essex.

2014   ‘Austerity, social security and material poverty in Ireland’, presented at ‘Questioning austerity: reality and alternatives’ symposium, University of York.

2012    ‘The capability approach: Insights for a new poverty focus’, presented at ‘Conceptualising and Measuring Poverty: Methods for the 21^st Century’ Summer School, University College Cork (Ireland).

Supervisions

Current supervision

Tom Dunne

Research student

Elaine Speyer

Research student

Angharad Price

Research student