I am an applied microeconomist working on modelling individual and household behaviour over the life-cycle, with much recent focus being on outcomes at older ages and issues in the 'economics of ageing'.  I am a Co-Principal Investigator of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, which I have been running since it's establishment in 2001.  I am a Co-Director of the ESRC Centre for Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy at the Institute for Fiscal Studies. I am currently one of the editors of Fiscal Studies. 

In addition to my research activities I have played an active role in policy advice, research funding and governance. Amongst other things, I have been a member of the lead expert group on the Government Office for Science Foresight review into the Challenges and Opportunities of an Ageing Society, a member of academic advisory panels for the Department of Health Commission of Funding Of Care and Support and the Department for Work and Pensions Independent Sickness Absence Review and a member of the US National Academy of Science Panel on Divergent international trends in Longevity.  I was chair of the MRC/ESRC/Wellcome Trust Expert Advisory Group on Data Access and Governance, a member of the ESRC Expert Advisory group for Data Infrastructure, Skills and Methods, and the social science representative on the UKRI Infrastructure Advisory Committee. Between 2011 and 2024 I was also a Trustee of the Nuffield Foundation.