Billy joined IES in 2021 as a Research Officer before progressing to Research Fellow in 2024. His main research interests centre around identifying and addressing the challenges faced by young people as they enter and progress within the labour market, as well as matters of equality, diversity, and inclusion in employment.

Billy is primarily a qualitative researcher and began developing his research skills during his undergraduate degree in Human Geography at the University of Northampton. There, his research investigated the leisure experiences of women and people living with disabilities, obesogenic environments, and international female labour migration. His Postgraduate degree in Methods of Social Research from the University of Kent provided depth to these research skills, as well as hands-on experience with a variety of qualitative and quantitative research methods and approaches to research design.

At IES, Billy has been involved in several large-scale research projects for central and local Government clients, including the Department for Work and Pensions, the Department for Education, and the Greater London Authority. He has supported projects evaluating the effectiveness of welfare-to-work programmes and education initiatives aimed at preparing people for entry into employment. He has also been involved in a number of evaluations funded by the Youth Futures Foundation exploring what works in providing employment support for young people in remote areas of the UK and those involved in, or at risk of entering, the Criminal Justice System. These evaluations have involved conducting in-depth interviews and focus groups with a range of stakeholders, and using programmes such as Atlas.ti to support analysis, as well as quantitative analysis of MI and survey data using SPSS.

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