I am currently a Lecturer in Sociology and Social Policy at the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research (SSPSSSR) at the University of Kent. I also helped set up the collaborative research blog Inequalities, where I regularly write articles and short blog posts.
I have a wide range of research interests including disability, the workplace, inequality, the benefits system, addictions policy & Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and the relationship between evidence and policy. The site has separate pages for my research on (i) disability & work; and (ii) alcohol; other areas of research are covered under general social policy. A complete list of all my academic publications, non-academic writing, qualifications and positions is available here.
These pages provide more details about my past and current research, as well as details of how to get in touch with me; however, please go to the Inequalities site if you are interested in being part of the Inequalities blog community. I'm also happy to co-supervise research students on any of my research interests - please send me an email if you want to explore this.
Getting in touch
I'm always happy to hear from potential collaborators / research students, or from people who are just interested in my research. You can email me at b dot p dot b...berg at kent dot ac dot uk (click here to see a spambot-protected email address in plain English), or get in touch via Inequalities. To hear about any new research/writing, then follow me on Twitter or preferably academia.edu.Latest updates
New position
11/9/2011 - In autumn 2011 I joined the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research (SSPSSR) at the University of Kent at Canterbury. I'm convening the postgraduate module on Design, Philosophy and Ethics of Social Enquiry (SO833, available to MSc and PhD students) and teaching on the undergraduate Social Research Methods module (SO602, taken by an eclectic mix of social science undergraduates across the university). Check out these links to find out more about Kent PhD bursaries, MA courses and undergraduate courses.
Non-academic writing
11/9/2011 - Other than near-weekly posts on the Inequalities blog, I've written a couple of posts for other blogs:
(i) Let's all be open about what we earn on the Guardian's Comment is Free blog - arguing that one of the reasons that people are relatively relaxed about inequality is that we don't tell each other what we earn. [In the interests of disclosure and not being a complete hypocrite, I'm now on about £35-36k]
(ii) Should we defend the middle-class welfare state? on Left Foot Forward - arguing that it's not enough just to be in favour of 'means-testing' or 'universalism', but that we need a better way of thinking about *which* parts of the welfare state should be universal.
Comments and critiques of both are welcome!
Co-production
11/11/2010 - Some friends of mine at Manchester have set up a network of academics and practitioners to research co-production - that is, challenging the boundary between service providers and service users to create better (and possibly cheaper) services. I presented at their first conference last week, and it was a great event: full of interesting people giving exciting presentations, and a supportive, collaborative atmosphere. If you're interested in getting involved, then you can get in touch with Coprodnet here.