Lindsey Richardson

Lindsey Richardson is an Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts, University of British Columbia. She holds the Canada Research Chair in Social Inclusion and Health Equity and serves as a Research Scientist at the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use. Her academic training includes a D.Phil. and M.Phil. in Sociology (University of Oxford, 2012 and 2008) and a B.A. in English and International Relations (University of British Columbia, 2001).

• Sociology of Health and Illness
• Substance Use and Urban Health
• Economic Marginalization and Health Disparities
• Critical Studies of RCT Participation

Her research program bridges observational, intervention, and critical methodological studies to address social determinants of health, particularly among people who use illicit drugs. Key areas include the impact of income assistance policies on drug-related harm, community-based employment models, and structural barriers to health equity. She leads the Assessing Economic Transitions (ASSET) Study and the Cheque Day Study, with findings influencing drug policy and harm reduction frameworks. Her work has been published in top-tier journals including Addiction, The Lancet Public Health, and Social Science & Medicine.

Selected trends from her recent publications include:

• Systematic reviews on socioeconomic marginalization and overdose risk
• Gender-stratified analyses of income-generation patterns
• Experiments modifying income assistance schedules
• Critical assessments of RCT recruitment in marginalized populations
• Validation of poverty metrics in harm reduction contexts

She has been recognized with the 2024 American Sociological Association Distinguished Scholarly Paper Award for her work on drug debt dynamics. Her research integrates community engagement, policy translation, and interdisciplinary methodologies to address structural inequities.