Job title
Professor of Social Policy
Job responsibilities
Professor 6 teaches modules on research design and methodology for both explanatory and intepretive research and in advanced qualitative methods using deductive designs
Research, scholarly and professional interests
Perri 6’s recent and current research interests are in the following fields:
- Neo-Durkheimian institutional theory, building on the work of the anthropologist and social theorist, Mary Douglas
- The policy process and political judgment
- Unintended consequences of public policy
- Public policy to change the behaviour of citizens and service users
- Individual consumer choice in public services
- Public policy and personal social networks
- Inter-organisational relationships, networks and “joined up” government in public services
- Organisational process and policy implementation
- Privacy, data protection and data sharing between public services
- Electronic government
- Sociology of the emotions
Sponsors and collaborators
Professor 6’s Collaborators have included:
- Professor Chris Bellamy, NTU, Professor Charles Raab, Politics, Edinburgh: data sharing, joined-up government, privacy
- Professor Edward Peck, Health management and public policy, Birmingham, Dr Nick Goodwin, health management, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine: policy implementation, organisational process, inter-organisational networks
- Professor Peter Spurgeon, health management, Warwick, Professor Naomi Fulop, health policy, King’s College London: hospital reconfiguration
- Professor Gerry Stoker, politics, Southampton, Dr Diana Leat, Centre for Civil Society, London School of Economics: joined-up government
- Dr Corinne Squire, Dr Susannah Radstone, East London and Dr Amal Treacher, Nottingham: emotions and public life
- Dr Jon Glasby, Health Management, Birmingham; Professor Helen Lester, Primary care, Manchester: mental health policy
His work has been funded or commissioned by:
- Department of Communities and Local Government
- Office of the Information Commissioner
- The Economic and Social Research Council
- Service Development and Organisation programme of the NHS R&D programme (now the National Institute for Health Research)
- Scottish Executive
- The Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, Cabinet Office
- Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
- Esmée Fairbairn Charitable Trust
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Leverhulme Trust
Professor 6 has also written many publications published by the think tank, Demos, where he was Director of Policy and Research for several years during the 1990s.
Current projects
Current projects: Professor 6 is currently working on a study supported by a Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship, examining a neo-Durkheimian institutional theory of political judgement and of the origins of unanticipated and unintended consequences of policy in three fields of policy in British government between 1959 and 1974. his book, Explaining political judgement setting out the neo-Durkheimian theory using the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 as the principle study will be published by Cambridge University Press in 2011. His book with Professor Chris Bellamy on methodology, inference and warrant will also be published in 2011, by Sage.
Major grants:
- 2009-2012, Leverhulme Trust, Major Research Fellowship, £113,470
- 2005-2007, Department of Communities and Local Government, £25,000: strategies for striking settlements between imperatives for greater sharing of client information between public services and imperatives for greater protection of confidentiality, with Professor Chris Bellamy, NTU, and Professor Charles Raab, University of Edinburgh
- 2004-2007, National Health Service Research and Development Programme, Service Development and Organisation Programme, £400k, for project entitled “Hospital reconfiguration”, with Professor Peter Spurgeon, University of Warwick, Professor Naomi Fulop, King’s College London, Professor Peter West, University of York, Professor Matthew Cooke, University of Warwick
- 2003-4, Scottish Executive, 65k for project entitled “Privacy impact assessment of child protection data sharing” with Professor Charles Raab, University of Edinburgh
- 2003-2006, NHS R&D Programme Policy Research, £2,000k for project entitled “The implementation of Direct Payments” with Nicola Vick, then of the Health and Social Care Advisory Service (HASCAS)
- 2003-2006, Economic and Social Research Council, £233k for project entitled “Joined up public services: data sharing and privacy in multi-agency working”, with Professor Christine Bellamy, NTU, and Professor Charles Raab, University of Edinburgh
- 2002-2003, National Health Service Research and Development Programme, Service Development and Organisation Programme, £79k for project entitled “Managing across diverse networks of health care providers: lessons from other sectors” with Dr Nick Goodwin, then University of Birmingham now London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Professor Edward Peck, University of Birmingham.
Information for prospective research students
Professor 6 is delighted to supervise doctoral research in any of his areas of research interest listed above. His methodological expertise lies in case-based and case-oriented comparative research rather than in quantitative methods.
He is currently supervising research students work on the politics of identity cards, and on the determinants of consumer behaviour in relation to environmentally friendly forms of energy for domestic use.
