Our work is driven by the skills and expertise of our staff. IES is multidisciplinary, and our staff draw on a wide range of backgrounds, both academic and more practical in nature.
We operate high standards of recruitment and are an Investor in People, committed to providing skill and career development to all our staff. We also work with associates and partner organisations in the UK and across Europe, drawing on their complementary skills, and local or specialist knowledge.
Naomi is Chief Executive of the Institute for Employment Studies. She brings more than 20 years of experience in policy and research with focus on employment, skills, and addressing labour market disadvantage.
Becci brings 25 years’ experience of applied social research and evaluation and is recognised for her expertise on topics including: young people’s transitions, further, technical education and apprenticeship, adult skills provision and unemployment, worklessness, ill-health and welfare-to-work. Cross cutting themes within her research are equity, diversity and inclusion, and overcoming poverty and disadvantage.
Tony Lloyd is the Director, Finance & Resources at IES, having qualified in audit practice, he is an established Finance Director/CFO with board level positions across a multitude of industry sectors including banking, insurance, environmental services, manufacturing, and technology.
Dan is a Chartered Psychologist with expertise in helping organisations and policymakers adapt and respond to the changing world of work. His most recent work has focused on the Defence and Healthcare sectors, supporting the development of evidence-based approaches, tools and guidance to plan and develop workforces in response to current and future demands.
Kate is a Research Fellow at IES and joined the organisation in 2019. Her main research interests include precarious employment, the gig economy, and ensuring access to good quality work.
With 25 years’ experience of working on skills, economic and cultural development initiatives, Astrid has an extensive track record of delivering research, evaluation, project management and strategic leadership.
Astrid believes that working with best practice employing organisations is key to influencing policy development and facilitating change in wider employer practice. She is passionate about the ‘good work’ agenda, meeting the needs of businesses as well as the individuals working for them, and she has a particular interest in flexible and high-performance working practices.
Zofia joined IES as a Research Fellow in June 2018. Her main interests include the role of line managers and the development of the employment relationship, the management of the psychological contract, the temporary and flexible workforce, and the health and wellbeing of the workforce, including the promotion of good work practices.
Susie joined IES as a Senior Research Fellow in October 2022. She is a quantitative researcher, statistician, and a chartered psychologist. She has substantial research experience spanning the last 20 years, which extends across academia, independent research providers, and her own research consultancy.
Jonathan re-joined IES in November 2017, having previously worked for IES from 2013-2016. During his time in applied social research, his work has primarily focused on: youth transitions; careers advice and guidance; educational and labour market disadvantage; and the links between these areas. He has worked for a range of clients on these topics including government departments and third sector organisations. Jonathan is also interested in social attitudes towards key public policy issues such as welfare and migration – how they are formed, and affect, contest, or lend support to government policy – as well as strategies to promote inclusion and diversity in the workplace.
Billy joined IES as a research officer in September 2021 shortly after completing an MA in Methods of Social Research and was promoted to research fellow in April 2024. His interests include equality and diversity, education and the path to employment and the higher education sector. Billy has gained experience using both quantitative and qualitative research methods through his academic studies.
Alison joined IES as a Principal Researcher in 1998. In 2010 she became a Principal Associate alongside consultancy assignments in the US, Europe and Australia, before re-joining IES in 2016. Alison writes, speaks and consults on a range of leadership development, change and coaching issues. Her current research includes exploring the leadership/productivity link and identifying outcomes from career coaching, but it is evaluating the impact of workplace coaching programmes for which she is recognised as an international expert.
Abi joined IES as a Social Research Degree Apprentice after finishing her A levels in Psychology, English and Spanish, and studies at the University of Kent to complement her learning and understanding at work. Her main interests lie in qualitative research, and she has enjoyed research into disadvantages affecting young people’s experience in education, youth transitions, and early years research.
Joe joined IES as a Research Intern in February 2021, progressing to Research Officer in June 2021, and Research Fellow in July 2024. Their research interests include the marketisation of higher education, workplace wellbeing and support initiatives, and the implementation and evaluation of EDI policies, with a particular focus on widening class participation.
Arundhati is an applied policy researcher specialising in employment, skills, workplace wellbeing, and equality, diversity and inclusion (DEI). She brings an interdisciplinary background spanning psychology, human resource management, and public policy research, enabling her to bridge the gap between policy and practice.
Megan is a Chartered Psychologist and worked as an HR leader, most recently in an entrepreneurial start-up, before moving into HR consultancy and research. She holds a BSc in Psychology, an MSc in Occupational Psychology and is passionate about championing evidence-led practice to make working lives better. She has worked extensively with organisations across the public and third sector, particularly within healthcare, non-profits, defence and government departments.
Kyla joined IES as a Research Officer in July 2024 following twelve years as an academic in higher education. Kyla completed a PhD in Social Policy at the University of Brighton in 2012 before going on to teach sociology where she focused on inequalities and parenting and covered areas such as work/life balance, the precariat and the impact of parenthood on work.
Amy is an experienced project manager and researcher. Before joining IES, she worked at Aston University, successfully managing collaborative research projects with NHS England, assessing interventions designed to improve staff wellbeing in Paediatric Critical Care and Emergency Departments.
Harry joined IES as a Research Officer in June 2024. His main interests include employability, workforce development, skills provision, and apprenticeship participation. Harry has almost seven years’ experience working on and managing research programmes related to employment and skills within a range of independent research organisations including BMG Research and Learning and Work Institute.
Olivia (Livy), joined IES as a Research Officer in February 2021. Her main interests include labour market analysis, and addressing skills gaps and barriers to participation in the labour market.
Seemanti joined IES as a Principal Research Fellow in September 2022. Her main research interests include human capital development, with a particular focus on the role of socioeconomic milieu on cognitive and noncognitive skills. Seemanti draws upon experience of working across academia and innovation agencies leading projects related to early years gap, human capital development and education both in the context of UK and international development.
Jonny has been conducting applied research in people management, organisations and HR for over 20 years. His research interests include job quality or ‘good work’, behaviour and change within organisations, and what works in driving employee performance and wellbeing.
Rosie Gloster is the Deputy Director of Policy Research at IES and brings over 20 years’ experience of applied social research and evaluation.
Dom joined IES as a Research Officer in October 2024. His main current research interests are related to the issue of unemployment and the benefits system in the UK and how people can be supported to find suitable work opportunities. Dom is also interested in the relationship between education and training and employment prospects, in terms of both the Higher Education sector and training opportunities such as apprenticeships.
Clare joined IES as a research officer in December 2014 before becoming a Research Fellow in 2016. Her main interests include equality and diversity issues, the Higher and Further Education sectors, and health and wellbeing at work. Clare draws upon experience of working on equality and diversity issues in both policy and research contexts, having worked for equality charities, research consultancies and the National Union of Students.
Emily joins IES as a Research Fellow in October 2023. This follows over a decade in a national charity focused on skills education where she headed up the Operations team as well as leading the Impact and Evaluation team.
Meenakshi joins IES as a Principal Research Consultant, with 21 years of experience in consulting across strategic HR, organization development and leadership development. She has worked with top teams across corporate and not for profit organizations to deliver long-term leadership interventions, high potential talent assessments, organizational vision and culture building programs, personal transformation, and gender inclusion workshops. She is a seasoned facilitator, certified executive coach, and conversant in the use of psychometric instruments. Her experience spans diverse sectors including banking and financial services, pharmaceuticals, consumer goods and United Nations agencies.
Lorraine Lanceley joined IES in 2021 and has over 10 years research experience. She specialises in evaluations of employment and skills programmes, including those supporting the long-term unemployed, people with complex needs or disabilities and young people not in education employment or training.
Prior to joining IES in 2024, Nicholas worked as a Lecturer of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Kent in Canterbury. He received a Masters of Research in Business and Management with a Merit and a PhD from Kingston University, London for his research work on entrepreneurship as an employment career path and the overall role of entrepreneurial well-being.
Daniel joined IES as a Research Intern in March 2023, progressing to Research Officer in August 2023. His research interests at IES include the role of employment support and the impact of the cost of living crisis on employment issues. Daniel has gained experience of qualitative and quantitative research by working on various different projects.
Alexandra (Allie) joined IES as a Research Fellow in December 2021. Broadly, her main interests include using a range of quantitative skills to investigate predictors of children’s educational achievement, parent well-being, and early social cognition.
Rakhee joined IES as a principal research fellow in 2018. She has over ten years’ experience of applied research into education, employment and health policy. Rakhee has led mixed-methods projects for national and local government, government agencies and third sector organisations. Key clients she has worked for include the Department for Work and Pensions, Department for Education, Education Endowment Foundation, Department for Health, the Big Lottery Fund and the UK Commission for Employment and Skills. Rakhee is an experienced project manager, skilled at leading research projects from inception through to dissemination.
Claudia joined IES as a Research Officer in September 2021. Her main interests include equality and diversity issues, specifically neurodiversity in the workplace, and youth employment.
Emma joined the Institute in 1996. During her time at IES she has worked for a wide range of clients including employers, educational establishments and policy bodies; and has a solid grounding in both policy-focused research and consultancy. She has over 20 years’ experience of researching education and employment issues and now leads the Institute’s work on higher education (HE).
Beatrice joined IES as a Research Intern in September 2022, before progressing to Research Officer in March 2023. Her research interests include issues around mental health and its stigma in the workplace, and young people’s transitions into employment.
Helena joined IES as a Research Economist Fellow in March 2024. Her research interests lie at the intersections of family and labour economics, with a particular focus on individuals’ use of time and wellbeing in the workplace. Helena is an experienced empirical researcher who has worked across academia and international institutions, collaborating on projects related to employment characteristics and gender inequality.
Meghna joined IES as a Research Economist in February 2023 and was promoted to Research Fellow in September 2024. Before joining IES, she briefly worked as a Research Officer with Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) on a national consultation project to analyse survey responses. She has a diverse experience of working in social and development space in India for roughly 6 years. Her experience spans from teaching children from low-income communities, assisting government on a city-wide school evaluation, to working on various social research projects.
Jade joined IES in 2020 as a project support officer before progressing to research officer in 2022, following the completion of an MSc in Governance, Economics and Public Policy. Her main research interests include educational and labour market disadvantage, as well as young people’s transitions from education to employment, workplace diversity and inclusion and green transitions.
Joy Williams (nee Oakley) joined IES in 2008. She is competent in a range of quantitative and qualitative approaches including survey and management information analysis; qualitative interviews; group interviews and literature reviews. Since joining IES, a core part of Joy’s work has been looking at how the employment and skills systems work together. She has conducted a series of studies for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (now the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS)) looking at the integration of employment and skills – focusing on the relationship between Jobcentre Plus and the National Careers Service. Joy is also interested in the development of skills of young people and students and equality and diversity.
Ceri re-joined IES in September 2018, having previously worked here for over 15 years. Latterly, Ceri had been working as a primary school teacher, having completed a PGCE in 2012. She has returned to IES to support and develop work in the pre-16 education field. Ceri is currently managing a number of projects including one for Teach First evaluating their school-based Careers and Employability Education Programme and another looking at the impact of a text-based literacy intervention with children of Reception age. She is also a member of the team evaluating a child assessment method being piloted for use in Early Years settings.
Matthew re-joined IES in May 2013, having started his career at the Institute in the 1990s. An economist by training, Matthew has considerable experience and expertise in labour market analysis, at a local, regional and national level and for employers and public bodies, and he is a strong quantitative researcher and skilled in using SPSS to analyse administrative and survey datasets. He also has experience in the work areas of disability and higher education research.
Sally has more than twenty years’ experience of conducting applied research in workplace health and wellbeing. Her specialisms include occupational health and safety, mental health and disability. Within IES, Sally has worked with a wide range of clients including those in government departments and agencies (eg the Ministry of Defence, DCMS, the Home Office, the Cabinet Office, HSE, the Food Standards Agency, Public Health England), local government (eg WECA, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea) and charities (eg Mind, Macmillan Cancer Support).
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