Dr Zoë Irving

Senior Lecturer in Comparative Social Policy (MA, PhD)

Academic Profile

I joined the department in February 2002 while seconded to the Higher Education Academy Social Policy and Social Work Subject Centre (University of Bristol) working as a researcher with Dr. Pat Young on the HEA funded ‘Pooling Pedagogic Resources for Undergraduate Social Policy’ project. I have also previously worked as a researcher at the Centre for Research in Social Policy (CRSP), Loughborough University and as a Lecturer at Leeds Metropolitan University. In 2004 with Prof. Nicola Yeates (Open University) I co-founded the International and Comparative Social Policy Group (ICSP) of the UK Social Policy Association (SPA) which we co-convened until 2011. I am co-editor, with Dr. Kevin Farnsworth, of the Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy and co-editor (until 2015) of the SPA annual publication Social Policy Review.

Research

My early research explored the relationship between social policy and the gendered dimensions of atypical work, including comparative study of women’s self-employment and male part-time employment. My current interests are located around the question of size within welfare state analysis and the ways in which approaches from political economy, sociology and anthropology can inform a better understanding of differences in social policy development in small and large states. I have a particular interest in Iceland and in the social policy of small island states more generally. With Kevin Farnsworth, I am also engaged in research which problematises recent social policy responses to the global economic crises experienced since 2007. Our comparative work to date demonstrates that welfare retrenchment is a political choice in the face of economic uncertainty, and our current project, assessing the austerity agenda in different welfare states and at the international level, further investigates the changing relationship between politics and economics.

Teaching

I convene and teach the undergraduate Level 2 core Social Policy module ‘Varieties of Welfare’ and a level 3 module focused on the comparative and international dimensions of work and employment. I also teach a core policy analysis module and supervise dissertations on the MA in Global and International Social Policy and I have been actively involved in curriculum design with the department at all levels. My research in the learning and teaching of social policy leads to an approach combining thematic understanding of the core concerns of welfare studies such as inequality, with a focus on the analysis of particular social problems and their solutions, within the UK and beyond. In this way students are able to stretch their existing knowledge of familiar topics to help make sense of theoretical perspectives and to develop independent thinking. My approach is also based on the view that students read for a degree but that this is an active process, and my small group teaching from level 1 to Masters, is about learning by doing.

• SCS2002 Varieties of Welfare
• SCS3019 Worlds of Work
• SCS649 Global Social Policy Analysis

Postgraduate Supervision

I am currently supervising 4 postgraduates studying models of collective housing in Denmark (ESRC funded); global social movements and policy discourse (ESRC funded); poverty and development in the Maldives and the relationship between gender and pay satisfaction. Previously I have also been involved in the supervision of a project exploring the role of international actors in relation to health policy and one which examined gender segregation in industrial design in Turkey; (both completed) and I was awarded an ESRC CASE studentship in 2005 for a comparative project analysing the interplay between social security and labour market participation for partnered women.

My main supervisory interests include:

• Comparative analyses of social policy
• Social policy in small states and small island states
• Economic crisis and social policy
• Employment as it relates to Social Policy
• Social Security and social protection
• Gender, employment and social policy

To find out more about our PhD programmes, go to:
Studying for a PhD in Sociology

Publications since 2005

Books

Farnsworth, K. and Irving, Z. (eds) (2011) Social Policy in Challenging Times: Economic Crisis and Welfare Systems, Bristol, The Policy Press

Hill, M. and Irving, Z. (2009) Understanding Social Policy, 8th Edition, Oxford, Blackwell/John Wiley

Hodgson, S. M. and Irving, Z. (eds) (2007) Policy Reconsidered: Meanings, Politics and Practices, Bristol, The Policy Press

Refereed articles

Farnsworth, K. and Irving, Z. (2012) ‘Varieties of crisis, varieties of austerity: Social policy in challenging times, Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, June 2012, pp. 135-49

Irving, Z. (2011) 'Curious Cases: Small Island States’ exceptionalism and its contribution to comparative welfare theory' in M. Benson and R. Munro (eds) Sociological Routes and Political Roots, The Sociological Review Vol 58 Special Issue 2 pp225-45 (also published as The Sociological Review Monograph Series, Oxford, Wiley-Blackwell)

Irving, Z. and Young, P. (2005) "When less is more: the dominance of subject-content in the teaching of undergraduate Social Policy", Social Policy and Society, 4 (1)

Irving, Z., Yeates, N. and Young, P. (2005) "What can Global Perspectives Contribute to curriculum development in Social Policy?", Social Policy and Society, 4 (4), pp475-84

Young, P. and Irving, Z. (2005) "Integrity of practice in lecturers' accounts of teaching decisions", Studies in Higher Education, 30 (4)

Chapters in books

Farnsworth, K. and Irving, Z. (2013) ‘Fiscal Crisis, Financial Crisis and the Great Recession’, in B. Greve, (ed) The Routledge Handbook of the Welfare State, London, Routledge

Irving, Z. (2012) ‘Seeking refuge in the Nordic model: Social Policy in Iceland after 2008’ in Kilkey, M., Ramia, G. and Farnsworth, K. (eds) Social Policy Review 24, Bristol, The Policy Press

Farnsworth, K. and Irving, Z. (2011) ‘Varieties of crisis’ in K. Farnsworth and Z. Irving (eds) Social Policy in Challenging Times: Economic Crisis and Welfare Systems, Bristol, The Policy Press

Farnsworth, K. and Irving, Z. (2011) ‘Responding to the Challenges: Some concluding remarks on welfare futures in changed circumstances’, in K. Farnsworth and Z. Irving (eds) Social Policy in Challenging Times: Economic Crisis and Welfare Systems, Bristol, The Policy Press

Irving, Z. (2011) ‘Waving not drowning: Iceland, kreppan and alternative social policy futures’ in K. Farnsworth and Z. Irving (eds) Social Policy in Challenging Times: Economic Crisis and Welfare Systems, Bristol, The Policy Press

Irving, Z. (2007) Gender and Work in Robinson, V. and Richardson, D. Introducing Gender and Womens Studies, Basingstoke, Palgrave

Hodgson, S. and Irving, Z. (2007) Policy and its exploration in S. Hodgson and Z. Irving (eds) Policy Reconsidered: Meanings, Politics and Practices, Bristol, The Policy Press, pp1-17

Hodgson, S. and Irving, Z. (2007) Studying policy: a way forward in S. Hodgson and Z. Irving (eds) Policy Reconsidered: Meanings, Politics and Practices, Bristol, The Policy Press, pp191-207

Irving, Z. and Yeates, N. (2007) E-learning Global Welfare Project in McKenzie, A. (ed) Global Perspectives in Higher Education: the role of the curriculum, London, HEA/Development Education Association

Irving, Z. (2006) Iceland in Fitzpatrick, T. et al. International Encyclopedia of Social Policy, London, Routledge

A full list of publications can be downloaded by clicking the link on the right of this page.