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The Institute for Economic and Social Inclusion (IESI)

The Institute for Economic and Social Inclusion (IESI) exists to promote positive societal change and to address the causes and consequences of economic and social exclusion within society.

IESI brings together research, practice, learning, and place-making activity from across the University, addressing issues such as the causes and consequences of socio-economic exclusion, precarious communities, inclusive growth, and equality of opportunity. The aim is to inform policy and interventions that deliver local, regional, and national impact for marginalised communities across Sunderland, the wider north-east, and the UK.

The Institute draws on the University's long-standing and deep commitment to widening participation and equality. It also reflects and strengthens the University’s impactful and wide-ranging research excellence from across all faculties as well as its extensive external partnerships with public, private, and third sector organisations. Underpinning all of this is a uniquely community-led practice-based approach to understanding the long-standing and pervasive issues of economic and social exclusion.

The combination of these factors allows IESI to bring a new voice to national and regional policy debates on these topics and to inform new approaches and innovative policy solutions.

Our strategic focus

The cost-of-living crisis, rising inequality, and the need to address economic and social inclusion have all become high-profile in recent years, with a prominent focus on policy to tackle these challenges. Sunderland and the wider region have been extensively impacted by uneven economic and social opportunity, impacted further by wider global factors. Against this backdrop of rising inequality, economic and social inclusion is morally compelling and socially urgent.

Creating IESI in Sunderland provides an opportunity to build on existing partnerships and to grow the University’s local, regional, and national influence and impact, as well as having an immediate, sustained, and meaningful impact on marginalised and excluded communities.

IESI research will inform practice and vice versa. Areas of core focus include:

  • Inclusive learning – intersections of disadvantage and the education system
  • Inclusive living – housing, identity, social cohesion
  • Inclusive work – pathways to employment, working practice, exploitative employment
  • The intersections between socio-economic factors and public health
  • Comparative metrics of societal inequality

The Institute complements, builds on, and works with the University's established Research and Knowledge Exchange programme and structures including the other research institutes.

Workstreams

The Institute's work is organised around four workstreams:

This workstream explores how inclusivity, exclusion and inequality manifest in various aspects of daily life, society and culture.

Areas of research include:

Housing, home and community

Housing is crucial in promoting social and economic inclusion and is a key element in discussions about social justice, health, wellbeing and community. Our research examines housing inequalities and explores how ‘healthy’ home environments, across various spaces (i.e. the house, the community, the neighbourhood, the city) are constructed and sustained.

Identity, belonging and social cohesion

Identity and belonging are pivotal in how individuals and communities experience inclusion and exclusion in society. We analyse how identity, especially for marginalised communities, plays a role in socio-economic participation, access to resources and opportunities, as well as experiences of discrimination.

Our research addresses issues of social cohesion and its impacts on equality and inclusion. Current projects include research on the political participation and inclusion of young Muslims in Scotland and research on the urban arrival experiences of asylum seekers and refugees in the North East of England and Scotland.

“Left behind places” and community-based research

“Left behind places” refers to the urban areas, towns and villages that have high levels of deprivation and have been excluded from economic development over multiple generations. Our research examines the lived experiences in supposed “left behind places” with a particular interest on community-based participatory research approaches and community-led research capacity building.

Exploring how fair employment builds financial resilience.

Understanding the role of learning in lifelong opportunity and social mobility.

Studying the links and consequences of exclusion on health (and vice versa) and examining socio-economic arguments for health interventions.

Institute Staff

Professor Graham Thrower

Head of Institute

Dr Laura McGinty

Research and Projects Assistant

Dr Robin Finlay

Partnerships Manager and Research Associate

Kate Newby

Advisory boards

Internal and external advisory boards govern the institute and support the strategic development of research and knowledge exchange activity.

Research Associates and Visiting Professors

The Institute’s Research and Knowledge Exchange activity is to be supported by Visiting Professors and Visiting Research Fellows internationally and nationally. Further details of these important roles will be announced in the near future.

Get involved

IESI offers a range of events that highlight the work of the Institute and our collaborations with partner organisations, and provide opportunities for discussion and debate. Our next programme of events will commence in September 2024.

Our activities are open to, and bring together, University staff and students, external partners and funders from the public, private and third sector, and – most importantly – the communities we serve.

You can contact Graham for further information about IESI, including how to get involved: graham.thrower@sunderland.ac.uk.