Research Grants
Below I list the main research grants I have received, as principal investigator or co-investigator. For full details of all sources of research funding, please see my CV.
Research England Connecting Capabilities Fund - The Inclusive Financial Technology Hub
Research England CCF-RED Grant (2024 - 2025) £1.5m
Role: Principal Investigator
Status: Live
Abstract: INFINITY exists to catalyse the next generation of university-inspired financial technology commercialisation ventures. The INFINITY Hub is a partnership between the Universities of Birmingham, Nottingham and Warwick, located on campus at the University of Nottingham. The Hub will: create an agile pathway for commercialisation of financial technology research, taking early-stage research-inspired commercial propositions on a journey to being realised as live commercial prospects; provide training and support for academics at an early stage in the commercialisation journey, overcoming the barriers to engagement in this activity; address the challenges faced by start-up and scale-up ventures in UK universities to realise the full potential of financial technology research; and provide a platform for university academics and researchers to meet and collaborate with businesses in the financial services sector.
The Impact of Pension Auto-enrolment and COVID-19 on Saving Behaviours
Nuffield Foundation Research, Development and Analysis Fund £350,000
Role: Principal Investigator
Status: Live
Abstract: Automatically enrolling employees into defined contribution schemes has become a common way of encouraging workplace-based saving for retirement, thereby addressing concerns about financial preparedness for retirement. Evidence shows that auto-enrolment increases the number of employees contributing to a pension over their life. However, the efficacy of auto-enrolment must be measured more broadly than focusing on retirement contributions alone. This project will investigate the impact of pension auto-enrolment and COVID-19 on saving behaviours. The research team will use two data sets, Nest administrative data and the Understanding Society longitudinal study, to investigate the impact of auto-enrolment on balances in other asset accounts, including retirement saving and other assets held elsewhere. The staggered rollout of auto-enrolment, which creates a natural experiment in length of exposure to the automatic enrolment policy, will allow the research team to make inferences about its impact on overall financial wellbeing. The Understanding Society study, which includes data collected during COVID-19, will allow for analysis on the impact of the pandemic on household finances and decision-making.
ESRC IAA LAF Grant (2022) £142,000
Role: Principal Investigator
Status: Complete
Abstract: This project will use innovative real-time, geographically granular data to create a data model purposed towards both targeting levelling-up support and evaluating the efficacy of policy interventions. This project will use the data underlying the TrackTheEconomy dashboard to create a national level, real-time data asset for understanding local conditions, needs and potential relating to levelling up.
UKRI Standard Grant (2020 - 2021) £240,000
Role: Co-investigator
Status: Complete
Abstract: The project involves the creation of a new real-time economic characterisation of consumer and firm behaviour from mass transaction data. Specifically, the work will evaluate impact on consumer finances (reduced incomes, non-payment of debts, patterns of saving and expenditure) and small business finances (turnover and business continuity). The research will be co-produced with four organisations.
ESRC Network for Integrated Behavioural Science - The Science of Consumer Behaviour
ESRC Large Grant (2017-2021) £2.5 million
Role: Co-investigator
Status: Complete
I am co-investigator, Theme 3 Leader and a member of the Network's Management Group. www.behavioural-science.ac.uk
Abstract: The project will advance behavioural science relevant to the understanding of consumer behaviour; market response to that behaviour; and regulation of markets and formulation of public policy. It will do so at the general level and with specific reference to consumer and household finance.
ESRC Network for Integrated Behavioural Science
ESRC Centre Grant (2013-2016) £3.5 million
Role: Co-investigator
Status: Complete
I was co-investigator on this grant and a member of the Network's Management Group. www.behavioural-science.ac.uk
Abstract: This network project brings together economists, psychologists, computer and complexity scientists from three leading centres for behavioural social science at Nottigham, Warwick and UEA. This group will lead a research programme with two broad objectives: to develop and test cross-disciplinary models of human behaviour and behaviour change and to draw out their implications for the formulation and evaluation of public policy.
ESRC Financial Literacy and Over-Indebtedness in the United Kingdom
ESRC First Grant (2010-2013) £225,000
Role: Principal Investigator
Status: Complete
I held this 'First Grant' as Assistant Professor at the School of Economics, University of Nottingham
Abstract: This research project seeks to understand the role of financial literacy in determining the extent and composition of household over-indebtedness. It aims to provide quantitative measures of the financial literacy of the over-indebted, and relate individual financial literacy relate to the extent and type of financial problems exhibited by individuals.
ESRC Household Finances and Housing Wealth
ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (2008-2010) £178,000
Role: Principal Investigator
Status: Complete
This grant funded my first post-PhD position as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the School of Economics, University of Nottingham
Abstract: Housing wealth is the dominant component of total wealth for the majority of households, accounting for 60 per cent of household financial wealth in the United Kingdom. Economists are interested in the impact of changes in housing wealth on household financial behaviour. The questions asked include: do unexpected rises in housing wealth cause households to save less in other forms of wealth, or save less overall?. Have large increases in mortgage debt been caused by households releasing their housing equity in order to buy more consumer goods?