Understanding Society is a complex and important study requiring significant investment and expertise, clear scientific leadership and effective operational management. It is led by a team at the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex.

Co-Investigators

Understanding Society Team

Questionnaire Development

The questionnaire development team is led by Professor Tarek Al Baghal. The team develop questionnaire content for the main survey and data enhancements. They also script and test all questionnaires.

Emily Dix	Survey Officer	Profile page
Ryan Holmes	Survey Officer	Profile page
Hannah Howman	Survey Officer	Profile page
Dr Karon Gush	Senior Research and Content Development Officer	Profile page
Joanne Maher	Research Assistant (Questionnaire Development)	Profile page
Lewis Mitchell	Survey Officer	Profile page
Sarah Parbury	Survey Officer	Profile page

Survey Methodology

Understanding Society is underpinned by rigorous survey methodology. The team work on a range of projects including methods to reduce attrition and improve response rates, managing mixed-modes in the Study, and sample distribution. They also produce weights for the Study. The team is led by Professor Peter Lynn.

Dr Pablo Cabrera Alvarez	Senior Research Officer	Profile page
Dr Olena Kaminska	Survey Statistician	Profile page
Dr Carla Xena	Weighting Officer	Profile page

Dr Edith Aguirre	Senior Research Officer	Profile page
Amir Avarzamani	Software Developer	Profile page
George Bennett	Survey Data Officer	Profile page
Dr Cara Booker	Senior Research Fellow	Profile page
Hannah Brightman	Participant Liaison Officer	Profile page
Dr Pablo Cabrera Alvarez	Senior Research Officer
Dr Roberto Cavazos	Senior Data Analyst & Training Officer	Profile page
Chris Coates	Research Impact and Project Manager	Profile page
Giacomo De Santis	UKHLS PhD student	Profile page
Emily Dix	Survey Officer
Glenn Dunn	Survey Database Manager	Profile page
Paul Garcia Hinojosa	Senior Data Analyst & Training Officer	Profile page
Kristijan Garic	Survey Data Linkage Officer	Profile page
Dipanwita Ghatak	ISER PhD student	Profile page
Kelly Goodyear	Participant Liaison Team Leader	Profile page
Dr Karon Gush	Senior Research and Content Development Officer
Isobel Hibbard	Participant Liaison Officer	Profile page
Ryan Holmes	Survey Officer
Hannah Howman	Survey Officer
Omar Hussein	Research Assistant (Income Data)	Profile page
Jane Ismail	Library and Information Officer	Profile page
Jay James	Events Co-ordinator	Profile page
Nicole James	Survey Data Officer	Profile page
Graham Jolliffe	Research Data Manager	Profile page
Dr Olena Kaminska	Survey Statistician
Eirini Koraki	Survey Data Officer	Profile page
Joanne Maher	Research Assistant (Questionnaire Development)
Dr Piotr Marzec	Senior Data Analyst and Training Officer	Profile page
Memory Mhembere	Research Data Manager	Profile page
Louise Miles	Senior Web and Communications Officer (maternity leave)	Profile page
Jasmine Mitchell	UKHLS PhD student	Profile page
Lewis Mitchell	Survey Officer
Dr Jamie Moore	Research Fellow	Profile page
Jonathan Nears	Web Developer	Profile page
Janet Page	Participant Liaison Officer	Profile page
Sarah Parbury	Survey Officer
Dr Violetta Parutis	Assistant Associate Director (Surveys)	Profile page
Cheryl Pasfield	Project Support Officer and Committee Secretary	Profile page
Annette Pasotti	Senior Web and Communications Officer (User Engagement)	Profile page
Kelly Reeve	Research Officer	Profile page
Lorraine Roberts	Finance & Contracts Officer	Profile page
Dr Paulo Serodio	Senior Research Officer (New Data)	Profile page
Fatimah Shah	UKHLS PhD student	Profile page
Robin Vanner	Policy & Partnership Manager	Profile page
Jim Vine	Senior Research Officer	Profile page
Christine Woods	Senior Survey Officer	Profile page
Dr Carla Xena	Weighting Officer	Profile page
Catherine Yuen	Survey Applications Manager	Profile page

Topic Champions

Topic Champions provide expert advice to Understanding Society on their specialist field and encourage use of data from the Study in their discipline.

Professor Andy Charlwood	Topic Champion – Employment	Profile page
Professor Kiron Chatterjee	Topic Champion – Transport	Profile page
Dr Roxanne Connelly	Topic Champion – Social Stratification	Profile page
Dr Rory Coulter	Topic Champion – Housing	Profile page
Dr Stuart Fox	Topic Champion – Civil and Political Engagement	Profile page
Professor Susan Harkness	Topic Champion – Social policy	Profile page
Dr Amanda Hughes	Topic Champion – Genetics and Social Science	Profile page
Professor Hamish Low	Topic Champion – Economic risks	Profile page
Professor Wouter Poortinga	Topic Champion – Environmental Behaviour	Profile page
Professor Stephen Pudney	Topic Champion – Ageing and social policy	Profile page
Professor Birgitta Rabe	Topic Champion – Education	Profile page
Professor Ingrid Schoon	Topic Champion – Youth	Profile page
Professor Karl Taylor	Topic Champion – Household Finances	Profile page
Professor Simeon Yates	Topic Champion – Digital life	Profile page

Strategic Oversight Board

The Strategic Oversight Board represents the range of stakeholders engaged with Understanding Society. The Board independently oversee the direction and operational delivery of the Study, working closely with the Co-Investigators team. 

Professor James Banks	University of Manchester	Profile page
Simon Briscoe (Chair)	Independent consultant/The Data Analysis Bureau	Profile page
Mike Daly	Department for Work and Pensions
Dr Mark Green	University of Liverpool	Profile page
Professor Vernon Gayle	University of Edinburgh	Profile page
Claire Harding	Centre for London	Profile page
Tom McBride	The Behavioural Insights Team	Profile page
Professor David Manley	University of Bristol	Profile page
Nick Watkins	Saga
Laura Wilson	ONS
Dr Keming Yang	Durham University	Profile page

Policy and Partnerships Forum

The Policy and Partnerships Forum is an advisory group made up of representatives from government departments, charities, business and trade unions. They provide guidance to the Study on maximising the use of data and evidence in policymaking and propose ideas for building partnerships.

Felicity Algate	Director, Digital Markets Unit, Competition and Markets Authority
Tera Allas	Director of Research and Economics, McKinsey & Company	Profile page
Jo Bibby	Director of Policy, Health Foundation	Profile page
Alex Collinson	Policy Officer (analysis and research), TUC	Profile page
Liz Hunter	Director of Policy, West Yorkshire Combined Authority
Jansev Jamel	Research and Policy Director, Pro-bono Economics	Profile page
Andrew Leicester	Associate Director, Frontier Economics	Profile page
Kirby Swales	Policy Deputy Director, Supporting Families, Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government
Stacey Warren	Head of Insight and Influencing, Family Action	Profile page