Ruth Patrick

Professor Ruth Patrick is a Professor of Social Policy at the University of York, currently holding a part-time role in the School for Business and Society. She joined York in 2018 and previously served as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Liverpool. Her doctoral work at the University of Leeds explored the lived experiences of welfare reform. Beyond academia, she has extensive experience in practice-oriented roles, including work with Shelter and Foundation (housing support for offenders) and think tanks like the Fabian Society and IPPR.

Her academic background includes a BA, MA, and PhD from Leeds. Her research focuses on bridging the gap between political narratives on poverty and the lived realities of those relying on social security. Key areas include welfare conditionality, participatory methodologies, and the impact of austerity policies on larger families. She leads major projects like Covid Realities and its successor Changing Realities, which engage low-income families in participatory research to drive policy change. Another project, largerfamilies.study, investigates the effects of the two-child limit and benefit cap.

Publications highlight her critical analysis of welfare systems, devolution, and family policies. Recent works emphasize participatory research’s role in policy advocacy, particularly during the cost-of-living crisis. She advocates for inclusive policy-making that prioritizes lived experiences.

Professor Patrick combines academic leadership with grants from ESRC and the British Academy. She supervises PhD students in areas like poverty representations, co-produced methodologies, and social citizenship. She serves on Oxfam’s UK Poverty Policy Advisory Group and editorial boards of prominent journals.

Her collaborative work includes partnerships with groups such as the Dole Animators and ATD Fourth World, emphasizing participatory solutions to poverty. She actively contributes to public discourse through media articles and blogs, challenging stigmatizing narratives and advocating for systemic reforms.