Robert de Vries

Dr. Robert de Vries is a Senior Lecturer in Quantitative Sociology at the University of Kent's School of Social Policy, Sociology, and Social Research, and a member of Kent's Q-Step Centre. He holds a PhD in Medical Sociology from Imperial College London (2012) and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Oxford. His research focuses on social stratification, inequality, welfare attitudes, and the social determinants of health. He teaches quantitative methods and substantive topics in inequality at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Education

• PhD in Medical Sociology, Imperial College London (2012)
• Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Oxford

Research Interests

• Social stratification and multidimensional inequality
• Occupational prestige and social status
• Welfare attitudes and stigma towards benefit claimants
• Social mobility and downward mobility dynamics
• Cultural consumption patterns and their societal implications
• Policy analysis of welfare systems and social security

Publications Trends

• Recent work emphasizes UK welfare policy critiques and pandemic impacts on social security
• Frequent exploration of class bias in welfare systems
• Quantitative analyses of social stratification mechanisms
• Collaborations on global teacher status and educational inequality

Grants and Labs

• Core contributor to the Welfare at a Social Distance project
• Part of the Kent Q-Step Centre for quantitative skills training

Future Work

• Continued focus on welfare attitudes and pandemic impacts
• Development of occupational prestige measurement tools using AI
• Policy-relevant research on social security system reform