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Marco Pomati

Dr Marco Pomati

(he/him)

Reader in Social Research Methods and Social Policy

School of Social Sciences

Users
Available for postgraduate supervision

Overview

My current research interests are the improvement of measurement and analysis of poverty and living standards, as well as the rigorous evaluation of social policies through advanced quantitative research and mixed-methods approaches. As a member and teaching lead of the Cardiff Q-Step Centre, I am committed to enhancing the proficiency of both undergraduate and postgraduate students in robust quantitative methods, grounded in my interdisciplinary background in Social Policy and Sociology.

I hold degrees from the University of Bristol, the London School of Economics and Goldsmith’s University. Before joining Cardiff, I worked at the University of Bristol, the National Foundation for Educational Research, the National Centre for Social Research and the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion where I helped design as well as carried out quantitative analysis of small- and large-scale socio-economic surveys and assessment data.

Current research

Following work for Eurostat with UK and European partners that led to the establishment of a new indicator of material and social deprivation, between 2019 and 2024 I have led as PI or co-led as Co-I a wide range of funded projects, underpinned by the common themes of understanding and improving the measurement of adult and children’s needs and the extent to which these are fulfilled in a wide range of national and international contexts and for a range of funders, including the Economic and Social Research Council  (UKRI/ESRC), the Nuffield Foundation, United Nations Children's Fund and CARE Canada.

Recent projects include: the improvement of the way socially perceived necessities are measured and analysed in Uganda, Tanzania and India; the assessment of perceived rights and rights deprivation among young adults as well as the relationship between housing deprivation and poverty in a comparative European context.  For more information see the Research tab.

Supervision

I am interested in supervising PhD students, mainly in the areas of Poverty and Inequality. If you are interested in undertaking a PhD with me and work in these areas, please do get in touch (preferably with a 1 or 2 page proposal).

Board memberships

Journal of Poverty and Social Justice (Co-Editor with J.Mack)

Social Policy Review (Co-Editor 2019-2022)

Multidimensional poverty and poverty dynamics working group (Development Studies Association)

Health Foundation Grant Board (2019-2022)

GCRF Grant Board (2016-2021)

Administrative responsibilities

BSc Social Analytics Teaching Lead

SSRM and PhD Social Policy Lead for the School of Social Sciences and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership (2018-2023)

Publication

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2013

2011

2010

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Research

Recent funded projects:

- Supporting Out of school Adolescent girls' Rights and Skills. Project evaluation (Principal Inverstigator) [Oct 2021-ongoing] Funder: CARE Canada

- UK-South Korea Poverty Research Network (Principal Investigator) [Jan 2022- July 2023] Funder: UK Economic and Social Research Council

- Child Poverty in Tanzania. (Principal Investigator) [June 2021- December 2022] Funder: United Nations Children's Fund . (See The State of Zanzibar's Children report and press release)

- Housing matters: A comparative study of the relationship between housing and poverty in Europe (Co-Investigator) [Oct 2019 – March 2022] Funder: UK Economic and Social Research Council (See Project report, also see Publication tab for papers)

- Feed her Future Nutrition Program Evaluation (Principal Investigator) [Sep 2019 - Dec 2020] Funder: CARE Canada

- Integration of multidimensional child poverty measurements and analysis in national poverty reduction programmes.The Third Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (Principal Investigator) [July 2019 - Oct 2021] Funder: United Nations Children's Fund (Project description)

-Assessing Multi-Dimensional Poverty in India (Co-Investigator) [Jan 2020 - Feb 2021] Funder: Global Challenges Research Fund (ESRC)

- Understanding and modelling the distribution of the double burden of malnutrition in Peru (Co-Investigator) [Feb 2019 - Feb 2020] Funder: British Council

- Assisting CARE Canada in the development of reliable and valid outcome indicators to assess health and nutrition programme effectiveness in Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique and Ethiopia (Principal Investigator) [Nov - May 2019] Funder: Global Challenges Research Fund (ESRC)

- Explaining malnutrition in Uganda: analysing local food security and expenditure (Principal Investigator) [April- Sep 2018] Funder: Global Challenges Research Fund (ESRC)

- The distribution and dynamics of economic and social wellbeing in the UK: An analysis of the recession using multidimensional indicators of living standards (Co-Investigator) [ongoing: Feb 2017- Aug 2018] Funder: Nuffield Foundation

- Measuring and Mapping the Prevalence and Patterning of Multiple Malnutrition in Young Children in West and Central Africa (Co-Investigator) [ongoing:Feb 2017- April 2018] Funder: ESRC

- Developing training tools to assist National Statistical Offices in Low and Middle Income Countries in the collection of data to assess multidimensional poverty for the Sustainable Development Goals (Co-Applicant) [ongoing] Funder: ESRC Impact Acceleration Account - Global Challanges Fund. See news items here.

-  ‘Getting the measure of poverty in the Philippines and Vietnam’ (Co-Applicant)  [2016] Funder: ESRC Impact Acceleration Account 

- Revising EU material deprivation variables and improving EU-SILC data quality (Co-Applicant) [2014-2016] Funder: EUROSTAT

- College Networking (teaching and research) with University of Auckland (Co-Investigator) [Dec 2016] Funder: Cardiff Uni

- British Academy Newton Advanced Fellowship for Scholarship exchange with Chinese Academy of Social Sciences [ongoing] (Co-Investigator) [ongoing: November 2016 - March 2018] Funder: British Academy

- Impartiality Review of BBC Reporting of Statistics (Advisory Team) [completed 2016] Funder: BBC Trust

- Coping Strategies The longitudinal pattern of curtailment (Co-Investigator) [completed 2014] Funder: European Commission

- Poverty and Social Exclusion Survey 2012 (Research Associate) [completed 2014] Funder: ESRC

Teaching

Undergraduate

  • Knowing the Social World: Online and Offline surveys (Year 2, Module Convenor, 2016-2019)
  • Social Research Methods (Year 2, Autumn Module Convenor 2015-2017)
  • Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics (Year 1, Teaching and 2019, 2022 Module Convenor)
  • Introduction to Social and Public Policy (Year 1)
  • Introduction to Social Research Methods (Year 1)
  • Poverty and Social Security in the UK (Year 2)
  • Gender Relations and Society (Year 2, 2014-2021)

I am the Social Analytics teaching team lead.

Postgraduate

  • I convene and teach both semesters of Quantitative Research Method (MSc Social Research Methods)
  • I convene and teach Statistics in Government, (MSc Data Analytics for Government).
  • I contribute to Research and Evidence-based Policy and Practice (Professional Doctorate).

I was the Social Science Research Methods and PhD Lead for the Social Policy DTP (2018-2023).

Biography

Professional memberships

  • Social Policy Association
  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
  • SURE accredited (2017) for the use administrative data, how to handle such data safely, lawfully and responsibly

Academic positions

  • Research Associate, University of Bristol
  • Research Analyst, National Foundation for Educational Research

Speaking engagements

  • 2024, Measuring poverty using the Consensual Approach, Training for National Bureau of Statistics and OCGS Statisticians. Dar Es Salaam, 25th-26th January 
  • 2023, Poststratification, National Centre for Research Methods festival, Nov 8th 
  • 2023, Cognitive Interviewing, National Centre for Research Methods festival, Nov 8th 
  • 2023, Intergenerational inequalities in housing trajectories across Europe. European Social Policy Association, Warsaw, 7th September
  • 2023, Poverty: Concepts and Measurement. Lecture delivered to the University of Oxford as part of the MPhil in Global and Area Studies. 6th March
  • 2022, Cognitive Interviewing. online workshop delivered to Campinas and Sao Paolo Universities. 16th December
  • 2022, Measuring Multidimensional Poverty, Training for National Bureau of Statistics and OCGS Statisticians. Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania 12-15 September.
  • 2022, Using Focus Groups to understand and articulate rights and necessities. CARE Canada, August 2022.
  • 2022, Poverty and Climate Change (Chair and Organiser). DSA 2022 Conference, Panel 45
  • 2022, Housing and Poverty in the EU: Project findings (Chair) Online project meeting funded by the ESRC (online)
  • 2021 Small Area Estimation. Advanced Poverty Research Methods Course, organised by UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico (online), UoB and University of Cape Town (South Africa), 3rd December
  • 2021 Housing Affordability and Poverty in Europe. European Network for Housing Research Conference (online) 
  • 2021 Housing matters: understanding the relationship between housing and poverty, Symposium organiser, Social Policy Association Conference (online)
  • 2021, Visualising Bivariate and Multivariate analysis in R. Methodological Training Workshop for the College de France MSc students. Delivered at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Paris, France.
  • 2019, Finding the Poverty Line. Poverty Research Methods Course, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
  • 2019, Measuring Consensual Deprivation. Poverty Research Methods Course, University of Bristol, UK.
  • 2019, Poverty: measurement, context and drivers. Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • 2019, Poverty: measurement and context. Brasilia University, Brasilia, Brazil.
  • 2019, Survey Estimates: Principles, issues and solutions.  Methodological Training Workshop for the College de France MSc students. Delivered at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Paris, France.
  • 2019, Trends and Patterns of Multiple Malnutrition in Young Children in West and Central Africa. NGO-Academia Collaboration Forum Bristol, Bristol, UK.
  • 2018, Multiple Malnutrition in West and Central Africa. Building Global Partnerships for Global Challenges Symposium. Bristol, UK.
  • 2017, Measuring and Mapping the Prevalence and Patterning of Multiple Malnutrition in Young Children. UNICEF Speaker Series, Kampala, Uganda.
  • 2017, Child Poverty Analysis Training for UNICEF Uganda. UNICEF, Kampala, Uganda.
  • 2016, "Measuring living standards in Europe" Auckland, Auckland University, New Zealand.
  • 2015, "How do European Citizens cope with economic shocks? The longitudinal pattern of curtailment" Net-SILC2 Conference, Lisbon, Portugal.
  • 2014, “A UK Living Standards Index” The 3rd Townsend Memorial Conference, London
  • 2014, "The Extent of Poverty among Parents, and the Relationship with Parenting Practices in the UK" The 3rd Peter Townsend Conference, London, UK.
  • 2014, "Evolution of material deprivation during the crisis" Understanding Changes in Income Inequality in the Austerity Period, Essex University, UK.
  • 2013, Material Deprivation in Europe: Which Expenditures Are Curtailed First? IMPALLA-ESPANET International Conference, Luxemburg.

 

Supervisions

Current students

Jonathan Jones 'Aspiring To Survive: Precariat Constructions Of Social Mobility And Social Justice'.

Jake Wilkinson 'Exploring The Interconnectivity Between Consumerism, Environmental Degradation, And Mental Illness: A Cross-Country Analysis'.

Richard Saunders 'Are Individuals’ Interpretations And Political Action Regarding Climate Change Impacted By Materialist/Post-Materialist Values In Different Contexts? An Analysis Of Britain, Canada And Australia'.