Professor Emma Murphy is a leading scholar in the School of Government and International Affairs at Durham University , holding the Chair of Political Economy . She is also a Senior Fellow in the Global Policy Institute and a member of the Institute for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies . Her research focuses on the political economy of the Middle East and North Africa , with particular emphasis on ICTs, youth policy, food security, economic liberalization, and Arab-Israeli relations . Recent work explores youth exclusion and inclusion in the MENA region, Africa, and Europe, and gendered transport systems in African cities. Her publications (2025-2009) span gendered mobility practices , ICTs and democratization , economic reforms in Tunisia, and youth activism across the Mediterranean. She co-edits the journal Mediterranean Politics (IF 0.722) and has served on the HEFCE Research Excellence Framework Sub-Panel . Honors : Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Manufacturing (FRSA) Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences (ACSS) International Election Observer, Tunisia (2011) Doctoral students supervised include Abdullah Al-Maani and Saleh Albulayhi. Her work intersects with social policy, gender studies, and urban mobility , with recent projects analyzing COVID-19 impacts on youth .
Pál Nyiri is a Full Professor at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, affiliated with the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities. He holds positions in the departments of Social and Cultural Anthropology and Art and Culture, History, Antiquity, as well as the Mobilities, Beliefs and Belonging research group. His research focuses on Chinese elite mobility, nationalism, Eastern European immigration politics, and comparative studies of Eastern Europe and China. Nyiri supervises PhD theses on topics including migrant worker advocacy, the jade trade, Chinese museum education, and maternity concepts among Chinese women in the Netherlands. Education: He studied chemistry and Asian Studies in the Soviet Union, Hungary, and the U.S., earning doctorates in history (Moscow State University) and sociology (Hungarian Academy of Sciences). Prior to joining VU Amsterdam, he taught at Macquarie University in Sydney. Research Interests: Nyiri explores how Chinese elites navigate global spaces, the intersection of nationalism and transnationalism, and migration-driven cultural transformations. His work bridges anthropology, sociology, and political science, with a focus on contemporary China’s global engagements. Scientific Awards: He was a 2003-2004 fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. He serves on editorial boards for journals like The China Journal and The Australian Journal of Anthropology , and chairs the academic committee of the International Institute of Social History. Teaching and Grants: He teaches migration studies, nationalism, and the politics of history. His recent grants and collaborations involve analyzing Chinese corporate strategies in Europe, middle-class migration motivations, and transnational digital nationalism. Labs/Teams: Active in the MOBB research group, focusing on global mobilities and inequalities. He co-edits the New Mobilities in Asia book series with Amsterdam University Press.
Lynn Blewett is a Professor in the Division of Health Policy & Management at the University of Minnesota's School of Public Health. She serves as the Director of the State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC), a research and policy center funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that supports state efforts to monitor and evaluate programs to increase access and coverage. PhD in Health Services Research, Policy and Administration, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota MA in Public Affairs, Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota BA in Psychology, University of Wisconsin Dr. Blewett's research focuses on health care policy and access to care, with expertise in health disparities, Medicaid/CHIP, immigrant health, survey research, and international health systems. As an advocate for information access, she helped bring a Census Research Data Center to the University of Minnesota, which is the only RDC with a health services and policy focus. Her work bridges academic research with practical policy applications at the state level. Analysis of Dr. Blewett's publications reveals a consistent focus on health insurance coverage, access to care, and state-level health policy implementation. Her research spans methodological approaches including survey research, policy analysis, and data resource development. Recent work has increasingly addressed the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare access and material hardship, while maintaining her longstanding focus on underinsurance, Medicaid policy, and state health policy monitoring systems. Dr. Blewett directs SHADAC, which provides high-level access to federal surveys for state policymakers. Her work has been instrumental in developing state capacity to monitor health coverage and access. While specific awards aren't listed in the available information, her leadership of a major Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded center indicates significant recognition in her field. As Director of SHADAC, Dr. Blewett leads a team focused on supporting state efforts to monitor and evaluate health access and coverage programs. Her work involves collaborating with state policymakers, researchers, and advocates to translate data into actionable policy insights. The Census Research Data Center she helped establish at the University of Minnesota serves as a critical resource for health services and policy researchers requiring access to restricted federal data.
Professor Jacqueline O’Reilly is a Professor of Comparative Human Resource Management at the University of Sussex Business School , where she serves as Co-Director of the ESRC Centre for Digital Futures at Work. She has held academic positions at institutions including the Social Science Research Centre Berlin, Sciences Po, and Brighton Business School, and her research focuses on the digital transformation of work , comparative employment practices , and gender and ethnic inequalities in labour markets . Education Doctorate in Economic Sociology, University of Oxford (1992) BA in Politics (Hons), University of Hull (1986) Her research explores digital ecosystems and their environmental effects on work, youth labor transitions , and social protection systems in Europe. Recent publications analyze AI in recruitment , platform economy employment , and gender equality policy post-Brexit . Scientific Awards Jean Monnet Research Fellowship (2000) Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (2019) President of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (2021-2022) She has supervised doctoral students on international work and employment issues and served on editorial boards of journals like Work, Employment and Society . Her advisory roles include consulting for the ILO Work4Youth programme and evaluating EU Horizon projects.
Dr. Andrea M. Brown is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Wilfrid Laurier University's Faculty of Arts. Her research focuses on urban food security, governance in East Africa (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania), migration dynamics, and co-productive governance models. She examines how policy frameworks address urban poverty, women's political inclusion, and informal settlement challenges in African cities. Her work emphasizes participatory governance approaches and their implications for marginalized urban populations. Notable projects include analyses of Uganda's urban policies, refugee food security in Kampala, and women's rights in African urban contexts. Dr. Brown’s research bridges political theory, development studies, and urban sociology to address pressing challenges in African urbanization. She teaches courses on African politics, urban governance, and development studies. Her office is located in DAWB 4-128, with weekly office hours on Mondays 1:30-2:30pm. She speaks English professionally and is actively involved in mentoring students exploring urban development and African governance topics.
Jennifer Nelson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Education Policy, Organization & Leadership at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, with a joint appointment in the School of Labor and Employment Relations. Her interdisciplinary work bridges educational leadership, organizational sociology, and social inequality research, focusing on how school structures shape educators' experiences. PhD in Sociology, Emory University BA in Sociology, Columbia University IES Postdoctoral Fellow, Vanderbilt University Former high school teacher in public urban school Nelson's research examines work and organizations through a sociological lens, with particular attention to structures of social inequality by race, class, and gender. As an organizational ethnographer, she investigates how school structures and practices shape teachers' behavior, attitudes, and social interactions. Her work explores teacher networks, interracial relations, job satisfaction, and turnover, with a focus on how principal practices influence teachers' access to workplace resources and support. Nelson also studies urban teachers' job reward bundles as predictors of turnover, early childhood teachers' identity strategies, organizational justice in predicting teacher trust, and determinants of state-level adoption of alternative teacher certification laws. Currently, she is conducting research on principal compensation and evaluation, as well as teacher-principal social interactions. Her scholarly work demonstrates consistent focus on educational leadership, organizational sociology, and social inequality in schools. The majority of her publications appear in top-tier journals across education and sociology disciplines, reflecting interdisciplinary scholarship that bridges theory and practice. Her research methods primarily employ qualitative and mixed-methods approaches, with increasing incorporation of survey data and statistical analysis in recent work. Michael Fullan Emerging Scholar in Professional Capital and Community Award (2020) AERA Division A Outstanding Dissertation Award (2019) Nelson actively contributes to the academic community through editorial work for the journal "Work and Occupations" and teaches graduate courses including EPOL 557: Education and Stratification, EPOL 544: Organizational Theory for Educational Leaders, and EPOL 547: District Change for Equity and Social Justice. Her research is supported by collaborations with colleagues across institutions, particularly with scholars at Vanderbilt University, and addresses critical questions about how school organizations can better support educators and promote equity.
Linda Steiner is a Professor at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland. Her work focuses on feminist journalism, media ethics, and gender studies within journalism. She has contributed extensively to understanding gender dynamics in newsrooms, online harassment, and the evolution of feminist media practices. Steiner is also affiliated with the Academy for Women’s Health, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Maryland. Her research spans topics such as feminist ethics in reporting, the representation of women in media, and the impact of digital platforms on journalism. Key themes include the intersection of gender with media labor conditions, the role of journalism in social movements, and critiques of mainstream media narratives on global conflicts and social issues. Steiner’s recent articles highlight her engagement with contemporary issues like #MeToo in academia, the challenges faced by women journalists, and the ethical dimensions of covering crises such as the Kobe Bryant obituaries and nuclear policy debates. She has also explored the historical use of media by feminist movements and the evolving nature of journalistic work amid global economic precarity. While her profile emphasizes research and teaching, she is involved in initiatives promoting ethical journalism and gender equity. Her work bridges theoretical frameworks with practical challenges in the media industry, offering critical insights into how journalism can better serve marginalized voices.
Meredith Greif is an Assistant Research Professor of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University, specializing in the intersection of race, space, and housing. Her work examines systemic inequities in housing policy and their impacts on marginalized communities, particularly through the lens of landlord-tenant dynamics and urban housing crises. Education: PhD in Sociology from Pennsylvania State University. Her research focuses on homelessness, urban inequality, racial stratification, and mental health, with a particular emphasis on how housing insecurity perpetuates racial and economic disparities. She has published extensively on topics including administrative burdens in housing voucher programs, unintended consequences of tenant protection laws, and global urban health challenges in contexts like Accra and Nairobi. Her 2022 book Collateral Damages: Landlords and the Urban Housing Crisis analyzes how legal systems fail vulnerable renters and exacerbate urban crises. Current research explores neighborhood satisfaction, mental health outcomes linked to housing instability, and racial segregation mechanisms in housing markets. Key themes in her work include policy evaluation, structural inequality, and interdisciplinary approaches to urban studies. No specific grants or advising roles are detailed in the provided materials.
Dr. Beatrice Piccoli is a Lecturer in Human Resource Management at the University of Essex's Essex Business School since September 2017. She holds a joint PhD in Work and Organizational Psychology from the Universities of Verona (Italy) and Leuven (Belgium). Her research focuses on job insecurity, employee well-being, leadership, and organizational behavior. She has been affiliated with KU Leuven's Research Group on Work, Organizational and Personnel Psychology since her postdoctoral role funded by the EU's Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant (2015–2017). Additional affiliations include a visiting scholar position at St. John’s University (New York, 2016) through the COOPERINT grant and a researcher role at the University of Verona (2016). Educational Background: PhD in Work and Organizational Psychology (2015): Joint program between University of Verona and KU Leuven MSc in Management of Training Services (2011): University of Verona Postdoctoral Researcher at KU Leuven (2015–2017): Funded by EU Horizon 2020 Research Interests: Beatrice explores the impact of job insecurity on organizational outcomes (e.g., performance, discretionary behaviors), employee well-being, and household dynamics. She also investigates mindfulness in high-stress professions, proactive personality traits among older workers, and the role of leadership in change management. Her work integrates social exchange theory, psychological contract theory, and cross-cultural perspectives. Grants & Awards: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (EU Horizon 2020, 2015–2017) COOPERINT Internationalization Grant (University of Verona, 2016) Banco Popolare Funding for Aging & Well-being Research (2015) Teaching & Supervision: Dr. Piccoli teaches Human Resource Management modules at Essex Business School, focusing on organizational behavior and employee relations. She supports postgraduate research students in areas aligned with her expertise, such as job insecurity and workplace psychology. Labs & Collaborations: She collaborates with KU Leuven's Work and Organizational Psychology group and maintains ties with institutions in Italy and the U.S., emphasizing interdisciplinary research on workplace well-being and policy interventions.
Isabela Mares is the Arnold Wolfers Professor of Political Science and Director of the European Union Center at Yale University. Her research focuses on comparative politics of Europe, political economy, electoral systems, and social policy reforms. She has authored five books, including Conditionality and Coercion: Electoral Clientelism in Eastern Europe (2018) and Protecting the Ballot: How First Wave Democracies Ended Electoral Corruption (2022). Her work has received prestigious awards such as the William Riker Award and Gregory Luebbert Award. Mares has taught at Stanford, Columbia, and held visiting roles at SciencesPo and Central European University. Her research examines electoral corruption, taxation, and democratization processes. Education & Academic Background PhD in Political Science (not explicitly stated, inferred from roles) Prior faculty positions at Stanford University and Columbia University Visiting Professorships at SciencesPo (Paris) and Central European University (Budapest) Research Interests Mares specializes in comparative politics with a focus on electoral integrity, clientelism, taxation, and welfare state development. Her work bridges historical and contemporary cases, analyzing how institutions shape political and economic outcomes. Recent projects include studies on antiparliamentarism and historical democratization processes. Recent Article Trends Her recent publications address modern challenges such as energy transition policies, populism’s impact on social protection, and historical electoral reforms. These articles emphasize institutional resilience, voter behavior, and the political economy of reform. Awards & Recognition Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellow Multiple APSA awards for books and papers Teaching & Mentorship Mares teaches courses on political economy, comparative politics, and historical analysis. At Yale, she co-organizes the Seminar in American and Comparative Political Behavior. While specific advisees are not listed, her mentorship is evident through collaborative research projects and co-authored works (e.g., with Lauren Young). Labs & Collaborations She leads the European Union Center at Yale, fostering interdisciplinary research on European politics. Her work often involves mixed-methods approaches, combining qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys in field-based studies.
Adam Isen is an Associate Professor of Economics at Johns Hopkins University, specializing in labor and public economics. His research focuses on the impact of government policies on households and firms, particularly exploring causal mechanisms behind economic inequality and intergenerational mobility. He holds a Bachelor's degree from Stanford University and a PhD in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Education: Bachelor's Degree: Stanford University PhD in Economics: Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania Research Interests: Labor Economics: Analyzing how policies affect labor markets, employment, and household decisions. Public Economics: Evaluating tax policies, social programs, and their long-term societal impacts. Intergenerational Mobility: Studying how policies influence outcomes across generations through mechanisms like military service, education access, and wealth distribution. Key Research Themes: His work often uses lottery-based natural experiments to isolate causal effects, such as studying lottery winners to assess wealth impacts on criminal behavior, homeownership, and education choices. Recent papers explore tax policy's effects on firm financing, pandemic-era unemployment insurance fraud, and the long-term consequences of historical policies like the Clean Air Act. Awards: None explicitly listed in the provided materials. Grants/Advising: No specific grants or advisee names are mentioned, but his research frequently involves collaborative projects with institutions and datasets such as the U.S. Social Security Administration and Swedish administrative records. Labs/Teams: Not explicitly detailed in the provided texts, though his work suggests collaboration with interdisciplinary teams focused on policy evaluation and empirical analysis.
Megan Konar is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her research focuses on water resources, virtual water trade, and the intersection of food systems with climate change and sustainability. She has contributed to interdisciplinary studies on groundwater depletion, supply chain resilience, and the socio-hydrological dimensions of water scarcity. Her work bridges engineering, environmental science, and policy analysis. Notable research areas include analyzing virtual water flows in global trade networks, evaluating the impacts of climate shocks on agricultural systems (e.g., in Zambia and China), and assessing resilience in US agri-food transportation infrastructure. She leads projects on food-energy-water nexus dynamics and has developed datasets mapping food flows and irrigation patterns across the United States and China. Key Awards: AGU Fellow (2024) James B. Macelwane Medal (2024) NSF CAREER Award (2019) Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize (2022) Her collaborative research extends to global partnerships, addressing water governance challenges and sustainable development goals. Recent work highlights the dual pressures of groundwater depletion and contamination in China, resilience strategies in perishable food networks, and equity considerations in wasted food models.
Susanna Hecht is a Professor of Urban Planning at the UCLA School of Public Affairs, specializing in tropical development, political ecology, and Amazonian studies. She holds a Ph.D. in Geography and has advised graduate students including Mariana Fajardo-Arboleda and Sebastián Solarte-Caicedo. Her research integrates historical ecology, remote sensing, and socio-political analysis to address deforestation, forest resurgence, and alternative development pathways in Latin America. Key areas of focus include the socio-environmental impacts of corporate agriculture (soy, oil palm), indigenous land management practices (e.g., Amazonian Dark Earths), and the role of migration/remittances in reshaping rural land use. She has pioneered work on forest transition theory and critiques of Malthusian explanations for deforestation. Awarded the David Livingstone Medal and Carl O. Sauer Award, Hecht's influential books include *The Fate of the Forest* and *The Scramble for the Amazon*. Her work has shaped policies for extractive reserves, climate finance mechanisms, and global environmental governance. She collaborates with international agencies like NSF, NASA, and the MacArthur Foundation, and serves at Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study. Recent projects explore globalization's impact on soy frontiers, carbon dynamics in pre-Columbian landscapes, and the socio-ecological implications of forest resurgence. Hecht advocates for integrating indigenous knowledge into modern conservation strategies and critiques neo-extractivist development models.
David Konisky serves as Associate Dean for Research and Lynton K. Caldwell Professor at Indiana University's Paul H. O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. His expertise spans environmental/energy justice, regulatory policy, and public opinion on climate issues, with research appearing in top journals including Nature Energy and PNAS. Education: Ph.D. in Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2006 M.E.M. and M.A., Yale University, 1998 A.B. in History and Environmental Studies, Washington University in St. Louis, 1995 Research Focus: Konisky pioneers energy justice frameworks examining how environmental policies impact marginalized communities. His work connects federalism with regulatory compliance , analyzes public attitudes on energy transitions, and measures equity dimensions in climate solutions through interdisciplinary methods spanning political science and environmental health. Publication Trends: Recent work (2020-2025) reveals persistent energy insecurity disparities during crises like the pandemic, quantifies health impacts from excess emissions , and exposes environmental racism in regulatory enforcement. His research increasingly integrates extreme heat vulnerability with energy policy, highlighting utility disconnection risks for vulnerable populations. Scientific Recognition: Elected to National Academy of Public Administration (2023) Lynton K. Caldwell Professorship appointment (2022) World Citizen Prize in Environmental Performance (2022) Don K. Price Book Award for Failed Promises (2015) Editor-in-Chief of Environmental Politics (2024) Grants and Leadership: Konisky directs the Energy Justice Lab with University of Pennsylvania, securing major funding from NSF, EPA, DOE, and Sloan Foundation. His seven books include Power Lines: The Human Costs of American Energy in Transition (2024) and foundational work on environmental justice policy. Research Infrastructure: As co-director of the Energy Justice Lab, he leads interdisciplinary teams developing metrics for equitable energy transitions, with current projects tracking utility disconnections during extreme heat events and solar adoption barriers for low-income households.
James Burton is a Professor in the Department of Management at the College of Business, Northern Illinois University, where he conducts research at the intersection of organizational behavior and human resource management. His work focuses on workplace dynamics including abusive supervision, employee retention, and fairness perceptions. Education: Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management, University of Washington M.B.A. in Management, Illinois State University B.S. in Finance, Marquette University Burton's research investigates how personality traits and fairness perceptions influence workplace behaviors, with particular emphasis on abusive supervision dynamics and employee retention strategies. His studies examine coping mechanisms like mindfulness and exercise in mitigating workplace stress, alongside the role of job embeddedness in preventing turnover during economic uncertainty. Recent work explores self-compassion restoration and spillover effects of work stress into home life. His publication pattern reveals consistent focus on abusive supervision (12 articles since 2006), job embeddedness (9 articles), and stress-coping mechanisms (5 articles), primarily in top-tier journals like Journal of Applied Psychology and Academy of Management Journal . Methodologically, he employs longitudinal designs and integrates personality psychology with organizational theory. No specific scientific awards were listed in the source materials, though recognition for teaching and research excellence was noted. Burton serves as a consultant for major organizations including Boeing and Verizon, applying his research on negotiation effectiveness and workplace behavior. While no formal advising relationships or grant details were specified, his industry collaborations demonstrate applied research impact. His work shows increasing focus on physiological interventions (sleep/exercise) for workplace stress management in recent publications.
