Wendy Kay Olsen

Wendy Kay Olsen is a Professor of Socio-Economics and Social Statistics at the University of Manchester's School of Social Sciences. She leads research in the Cathie Marsh Institute for Social Research, focusing on the sociology of economic life with particular attention to methodology integration across qualitative and quantitative approaches. Her work emphasizes economic institutions, labour markets in India and the UK, and moral economy frameworks. She has held editorial roles at journals like European Journal of Development Research and Work, Employment and Society.

Educated at Oxford University (DPhil and MPhil in Economics), Olsen has extensive teaching experience in development research, statistical methods, and causal analysis. Her research spans topics like gender and labour, poverty measurement, and mixed-methods applications. Notable projects include studies on bonded child labour in South Asia and the impact of organic standards in South Indian tea production.

Olsen has supervised over 15 PhD students across diverse geographies, including India, Brazil, and Bangladesh. She received the 2015 Best ARQOL Paper Award for her work on well-being during the UK recession. Her current projects explore spatial non-stationarity in child labour and intersectional analysis of modern slavery.

Active in academic service, Olsen sits on the Council of the Association for Heterodox Economics and has held leadership roles in academic unions. She promotes interdisciplinary research through initiatives like the Methods@Manchester Summer School, emphasizing pseudo-panel methods and structural equation modeling.