Research interests
My research interests span three distinct but related areas of investigation: inequalities in later life; informal carers and employment; and the retirement prospects of future generations of elders. A unifying theme throughout much of my research is the use of a dynamic, life course perspective.
- inequalities in later life, particularly inequalities in the incomes of older people, equity in health and social care, and inequalities amongst ethnic elders in the UK
- informal carers, paid employment and resources
- the retirement prospects of future generations of elders, particularly the building and use of different types of policy tools for modelling income, pensions, health, incapacity, demand and supply of formal and informal care amongst older people in the future
Current research projects include:
ESRC: Centre for Population Change: I am Co-Director of the CPC, which is currently in the second phase. My collaborative work as part of the CPC focuses on a) Increasing longevity and the changing life course, and b) Understanding intergenerational relations & exchange. For more information, please visit the CPC website.
In December 2020, I was part of a team from the CPC who won the 2020 ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize
ESRC/DFID The impact of social pensions on multiple dimensions of poverty, subjective wellbeing and solidarity across generations. Gloria Chepngeno Langat (PI), Maria Evandrou, Jane Falkingham, Nele van Der Wielen, Isabella Aboderin. This project uses a mixed methods approach to evaluate the impact of the older persons’ cash transfer programme. For more information, please visit the project webpage.
ESRC/ DFID: Understanding Resilience in Later Life in Low-Resource Setting. Maria Evandrou (PI), Isabella Aboderin, Rachel Bennett, Jane Falkingham, and jointly with the Africa Population and Health Research Centre, Nairobi, Kenya (ESRC-DFID funded).
MRC/ ESRC/ Arthritis Research UK: Health and Employment after Fifty. K. Palmer (PI), M. Evandrou and colleagues.
PhD Students
Ella Moonan-Howard (ESRC SCDTP scholar, co-supervised with Prof. Athina Vlachantoni)
Topic: Social networks and well-being in later life: understanding the role of neighbourhood
Rui Nicola (ESRC DTC scholar, co-supervised with Prof. Jane Falkingham)
Topic: Portuguese pensions in the balance: public policy options on adequacy, financial sustainability and efficiency using dynamic microsimulation modelling.
Wanting Huang (co-supervised with Prof. Athina Vlachantoni)
Topic: The divergence in the health status and care demands of the older Chinese population
Haiyu Jin (ESRC SCDTP Scholar, co-supervised with Prof. Athina Vlachantoni)
Topic: Study on the association of caregiving with spousal caregivers' health outcome
Past research projects include:
- ESRC Global Ageing and Long-Term Care Network. Maria Evandrou (PI), Jane Falkingham, Athina Vlachantoni, Frank Feng and Gloria Langat) and colleagues for international collaborating partners.
- ESRC/ DFID: Understanding Resilience in Later Life in Low-Resource Setting. Maria Evandrou (PI), Isabella Aboderin, Rachel Bennett, Jane Falkingham, and jointly with the Africa Population and Health Research Centre, Nairobi, Kenya (ESRC-DFID funded).
- MRC/ ESRC/ Arthritis Research UK: Health and Employment after Fifty. K. Palmer (PI), M. Evandrou and colleagues.
- ESRC/DFID ESRA project: This project, which also involved Dr Vlachantoni and Prof. Falkingham, was aimed at identifying the substantive and methodological lessons of research in the area of poverty alleviation and social pensions, and the gaps where research could contribute in the future.
- ESRC Pathfinders project: I was involved, with colleagues from Southampton, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the University of Witwatersrand/Agincourt DSS and the Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies, in a project exploring the impact of internal labour migration on intergenerational support and wellbeing of children and older people in China and South Africa. J. Falkingham (PI), M. Evandrou, A. Vlachantoni.
- NIHR. Ethnic group differences in satisfaction with social care. R. Willis (PI), P. Pathak, M. Evandrou.
- ESRC project on ‘Understanding quality of life and well-being of older people – Case studies of China, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh’, in partnership with HelpAge International. A. Zaidi (PI), J. Falkingham, M. Evandrou.
- ANR/DFG/ESRC/NWO with ICSSR: As part of an internationally collaborative project funded by the ESRC with colleagues in the Netherlands and India, I led a project exploring a range of wellbeing indicators for older persons in the context of a globalizing world using nationally representative datasets. For more information visit the Age-Globe Network page.
- EPSRC The Care Life Cycle: I was part of a research team led by Prof. Falkingham, and including colleagues from Demography, Operational Research and Complexity Science, which aimed to develop a suite of models reflecting the supply and demand for health and social care in the UK. As part of this project, I worked within a number of sub-projects producing empirical evidence for the supply of, and demand for, social care, for example the determinants of transitioning into types of long-term care, the determinants of receiving social care, the socio-economic determinants of the disablement process, and the investigation of unmet need for social care. Visit the CLC website for more details.
- ESRC SAGE Research Group: Simulating Social Policy in an Ageing Society, jointly based at Southampton and LSE. Co-Director with J. Falkingham, Southampton (PI), P. Johnson (LSE) and K. Rake (Fawcett Society).
- Nuffield Foundation Lifetime events and the incomes of the older population in the British, German, Swedish and American welfare states. M. Evandrou (PI) with J. Falkingham, Southampton, and P. Johnson, LSE. This project investigates inequalities in income amongst older people. The research used a comparative framework and the cases of Britain, Germany, Sweden and the US are examined.
- ESRC and AHRB Ageing and Consumption in Britain 1963-1998. M. Evandrou with P. Higgs (PI) UCL, I.R. Jones, St George's, C.J. Gilleard, St George's, R.D. Wiggins, City, C.R. Victor, Reading. The project examined consumer culture across different cohorts in Britain. It was funded under the ESRC/AHRB Cultures of Consumption Initiative.
- ESRC Growing Older Initiative Family, Work and Quality of Life: Changing Economic and Social Roles. M. Evandrou (PI) with Karen Glaser, KCL. The project was funded under the ESRC Growing Older Initiative.
- ESRC Modelling Social Policy in an Ageing Europe M. Evandrou with J. Falkingham, Southampton, (PI), P. Johnson (LSE) and K. Rake, (Fawcett Society). The award was used to organise a major International Conference on Modelling Policy for an Ageing Europe.
Research project(s)
Professor Maria EvandrouCentre for Research on Ageing Social Sciences University of Southampton Southampton SO17 1BJ United Kingdom
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