About
Athina Vlachantoni is a Professor of Gerontology and Social Policy, and Admissions Tutor for Postgraduate Taught programmes and Exams Officer in the Department of Gerontology. She has been a member of the Centre for Research on Ageing since 2008, and a member of the ESRC Centre for Population Change since 2014. She is the Director of the ESRC South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership, a partnership offering ESRC-funded MSc/PhD studentships and post-doctoral fellowships between the Universities of Southampton, Portsmouth, Chichester and Brighton. Professor Vlachantoni is currently Treasurer of the UK Social Policy Association, and a member of the British Society of Gerontology, and the British Society of Population Studies. She was Associate/Deputy Editor of Ageing & Society between 2015-25, and is currently a member of the Editorial Board for the Journal of Social Policy. Professor Vlachantoni was elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in 2022. Professor Vlachantoni has served as a member and Deputy Chair of the ESRC Grants Assessment Panel C (2019-21), as Chair of the ESRC GAP D (2021-3) and as Chair of the ESRC GAP A (2023-5). She is currently Chair of the Wellcome Trust Advisory Board for Social Sciences, and appointed on the ESRC Assessor College. Professor Vlachantoni is also appointed on the REF2029 Panel for the UoA20 Social Work and Social Policy.
Research
Research groups
Research interests
- Informal care provision and receipt
- Unmet need for social care
- Pension protection
- Health inequalities across the lifecourse
- Ethnic diversity and accumulated (dis)advantages across the lifecourse
Current research
Professor Vlachantoni is a member of the Centre for Research on Ageing and the ESRC Centre for Population Change. She is currently involved in two research projects:
- Co-Investigator in the ESRC Centre for Population Change - Connecting Generations research programme (2022-27). As part of this programme, Professor Vlachantoni leads a Strand on Intergenerational flows of support in later life. She works with Professor Jane Falkingham, Professor Maria Evandrou, Dr Min Qin, Dr Haiyu Jing, Dr Fei Wang and Dr Spela Mocnik to investigate flows of support upwards and downwards between generations, focusing on financial, emotional and instrumental contributions. These projects use both quantitative and qualitative data.
- Co-Investigator on the NERC-funded project on 'Co-developed Environmental Solutions to Mitigate the Impact of Temperature Extremes on the Health of Vulnerable Populations' (2023-6), led by Professor Justin Sheffield. As part of this project, she works with Dr Rebecca Collins (Geography) and Dr Shimaa Elkomy to examine the impact of temperature extremes on older persons using nationally representative datasets.
Professor Vlachantoni is currently also working on academic and non-academic outputs from the ESRC project on Promoting inclusivity in pension protection and other forms of saving among men and women from black and minority ethnic communities in the UK: a mixed methods study (2023-26). During this project, she worked with Professor Yuanyuan Yin (Winchester School of Art), Dr Spela Mocnik and Dr Saddaf Akhtar (now at the University of Liverpool) to examine the determinants and direct perspectives of pension protection and saving among minority ethnic communities in the UK.
PhD students
- Joanna Brady
- Yifan Ge
- Valentina Hinojosa
- Fei Ma
- Nadine Marshall
Research projects
Active projects
Completed projects
Publications
Teaching
Professor Vlachantoni teaches on MSc-level modules and modules offered to Undergraduate students in the University of Southampton.
- UOSM2041 Emerging and Resilient India (with Professors Evandrou and Padmadas, and Amarjit Singh)
- GERO6022 Poverty and social protection around the world (Distance Learning)
- GERO6055 Policy evaluation for ageing societies (Distance Learning)
- RESM6305 Mixed Methods
External roles and responsibilities
Biography
Professor Vlachantoni joined the University of Southampton in 2007, following a PhD in Social Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science, an MSc Comparative Social Policy at the University of Oxford (Wolfson College) and a BA Social Policy and Politics at Royal Holloway, University of London.
Prizes
- University of Southampton Vice-Chancellor's Award (2012)
- University of Southampton Vice-Chancellor's Teaching Award (Department of Gerontology Team) (2012)
- 2020 ESRC Impact Prize - with Centre for Population Change (2020)
- University of Southampton Vice-Chancellor's Award (2012)
- University of Southampton Vice-Chancellor's Teaching Award (Department of Gerontology Team) (2012)
- 2020 ESRC Impact Prize - with Centre for Population Change (2020)