Professor Emilia Del Bono appointed to lead new era of our MiSoC research

Professor Emilia Del Bono, Professor of Economics at the University of Essex, has been appointed as the new Director of the ESRC Research Centre on Micro-Social Change (MiSoC) at the Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex.

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), part of UK Research and Innovation, recently awarded MiSoC a further £6.2 million for the next five years of research.

MiSoC, one of the ESRC’s longest running investments, is a multidisciplinary centre, promoting collaboration between economists, sociologists and other social scientists, and using quantitative social science to provide evidence with which to address key societal challenges. MiSoC has been based at ISER at the University of Essex since 1989, and is a collaboration with specialists from universities around the world.

The new programme of work will investigate how individuals and families are responding to the challenge of the world’s need for a creative, adaptable labour force – with higher levels of education and a greater reliance on social skills. It will also explore demographic changes: including new family structures, changing gender roles, an ageing population and growing diversity from migration.

ISER Director, Professor Emily Grundy, said: “I am absolutely delighted that Professor Del Bono will be leading MiSoC through the next era of our research programme. Emilia is a world-class economist, with an outstanding portfolio of policy-relevant research and she will be an excellent leader for our high-impact work. Emilia is the first female leader of this prestigious and long-running research centre and I am delighted that this appointment continues ISER’s long tradition of promoting outstanding women in research.”

University of Essex Vice Chancellor, Professor Anthony Forster, said: “Our mission at Essex is to undertake research which has a real, significant impact on the world and improves people’s lives, and the MiSoC research agenda is an important part of this. I am delighted that Professor Del Bono, as an internationally renowned economist, will be leading our crucial work in collaboration with experts from across the UK and the world, to explain how people really live their lives and how society is changing.”

Professor Del Bono takes over from Professor Mike Brewer, who begins a new role as Deputy Chief Executive of The Resolution Foundation from March 2020. Professor Brewer will continue as a co-investigator at MiSoC and to lead ISER’s work on developing the first open access UK tax and benefit microsimulation model, UKMOD, until the end of 2020.

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