Email: portico-services@ucl.ac.uk
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- Chair of Social Policy
- IOE - Social Research Institute
- UCL Institute of Education
I studied psychology at the University of Mainz (Germany) where I received a BA and MA. I received a PhD in psychology from the University of Leiden (The Netherlands) in 1992. On completion of my PhD I took up a lectureship in Social Research at City University London, which at the time hosted the British Cohort Studies. Since 1996 I am registered as a Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society. In2002 I was awarded a Chair in Psychology by City University and directed the Centre for Human Development and Wellbeing. In 2007 I was appointed as Chair in Human Development and Social Policy at the Institute of Education, now University College London.
Currently I am Chair of Social Policy at the Social Research Institute (SRI), University College London. I am a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS) and the Social Science Centre(Wissenschaftszentrum) Berlin. I am President elect of the European Association for Research on Adolescence (EARA) and past President of the Society for Longitudinal and Lifecourse Studies (SLLS).
I have served as advisor to government departments and am member of several national and international review boards, such as the Swiss National Centre of Excellence (NCCR) and the German Youth Institute (DJI).I am a member of the OECD 2030 Competencies Framework Working Group and the UNESCO Inclusive Social Policy Lab.


My research interests focus on the study of risk and resilience, inparticular on social inequalities in capacity building, health and attainmentduring the transition from dependent childhood to independent adulthood, asking1) to what extent and how do social conditions, in particular socio-economicadversity, affect individual thinking, feeling and behaviour; 2) to what extentand in what circumstances can individuals succeed against the odds and steertheir own life course?; and 3) what can be done to improve the life chances ofthe most vulnerable? My studies are guided by a socio-ecological developmentalsystems approach, mapping human development over time and in context usinglongitudinal data, such as the nationally representative British cohortstudies. I have examined and contributed to new insights regarding socialinequalities in competence development, aspirations, health and attainment, andthe conditions for change and resilience in the face of adversity.
My publications include over 100 scholarly articles, as well as amonograph on ‘Risk and Resilience’ (2006) and three edited volumes on ‘Transitionsfrom school-to-work' with Rainer K. Silbereisen (2009), 'Genderdifferences in aspirations and attainment' with Jacquelynne S. Eccles (2014),and ' Young People’s Development and the Great Recession: Uncertain Transitionsand Precarious Futures' with John Bynner (2017) all published by CambridgeUniversity Press.
Module leader: Uncertainty in Contemporary Society. BSC Social Science
PhD supervision