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Ben Baumberg  Geiger

Professor Ben Baumberg Geiger

Professor in Social Science and Health

Research interests

  • Mental Health
  • Decent work & economic growth (SDG 8)
  • Employment
  • Employers

Biography

Ben is currently a Professor in Social Science and Health in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at King's College London, and co-leads the 'Work, welfare reform and mental health' programme within the ESRC Centre for Society & Mental Health.  He is also co-lead of the 'Welfare at a (Social) Distance' project, an ESRC rapid-response project looking at the benefits system during Covid-19 (with the final outputs coming out later in 2023). 

Until July 2022, Ben was a Reader in Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Kent, where he helped co-found the University of Kent's Q-Step centre. For a time in 2015-16 he was also on secondment as a Policy Advisor at the Department of Work and Pensions.

His personal website is available at https://www.benbgeiger.co.uk/, and a full list of publications is available from http://www.benbgeiger.co.uk/publications.htm

Research Interests

He has a wide range of research interests, currently focused on:

  • Disability, the workplace and benefits (see Disability page)
  • Attitudes to benefits and ‘scroungers’ (see Social Attitudes page)
  • Philosophy of social science, including credibility, trustworthiness, lived experience (see On Social Science page).
  • Research methods (both quant and qual)

Research Groups

Ben co-leads the ‘Work, welfare reform and mental health’ programme within the ESRC Centre for Society & Mental Health.

Teaching

7SSHM504 Quantitative Data Analysis

7SSHM507 Data Manipulation and Management

Expertise and Public Engagement

Ben has done public engagement work with lots of different audiences:

  • With policymakers: Ben worked on secondment at DWP in 2015-16, and continues to have regular meetings with DWP as well as other official bodies like the OBR, Audit Office, Parliamentary Select Committees etc.
  • With the general public: Ben led the blog Inequalities for several years from 2010, and has written for e.g. the Guardian (a full list of non-academic publications is available here).
  • With others: Ben regularly speaks to charities like Mind that are members of the Disability Benefits Consortium, and claimant- or disabled-person led groups such as the Committee on Social Security led by Experts by Experience, Chronic Illness Inclusion and Disability Rights UK.

Research

Thumbnail- Mid-Term Report
Work, Welfare and Mental Health: Transitions Over Time

Qualitative longitudinal research exploring journeys between work and welfare for people with experience of mental health problems.

Project status: Ongoing

News

€3 million awarded to analyse how it feels to claim benefits in different countries

A major new research project funded by the European Research Council (ERC) will analyse how different welfare systems can affect people's mental health and...

Welfare cartoon

Features

Back to Work or Back against the Wall: responding to the 2023 Autumn Statement

The 2023 Autumn Statement has proposed several changes to policy that aim to help people return to work after ill-health but will its approach actually...

Population Health & Environmental Sciences job opportunities

Partnerships, Power, Potential: GHSM on from 10

This exhibition takes a look at the research being undertaken by GHSM academics and students across the world.

GHSM on from 10 photo (1)

Research

Thumbnail- Mid-Term Report
Work, Welfare and Mental Health: Transitions Over Time

Qualitative longitudinal research exploring journeys between work and welfare for people with experience of mental health problems.

Project status: Ongoing

News

€3 million awarded to analyse how it feels to claim benefits in different countries

A major new research project funded by the European Research Council (ERC) will analyse how different welfare systems can affect people's mental health and...

Welfare cartoon

Features

Back to Work or Back against the Wall: responding to the 2023 Autumn Statement

The 2023 Autumn Statement has proposed several changes to policy that aim to help people return to work after ill-health but will its approach actually...

Population Health & Environmental Sciences job opportunities

Partnerships, Power, Potential: GHSM on from 10

This exhibition takes a look at the research being undertaken by GHSM academics and students across the world.

GHSM on from 10 photo (1)