Denise Hawkes is a Professor of Economics Education at King's Business School. Her main research interests fall in two areas. Firstly, she works on issues related to higher education. This includes work on higher education transitions, equality, diversity and inclusion in higher education including awarding and pay gaps and the value of doctoral education. Secondly, she works on the labour economics looking at evidence of the labour market experience of those who experience periods of worklessness, especially women with caring responsibilities.

Areas of interest:

• Economics of Education (focused on Higher Education transitions)
• Economics Education (focused on Doctoral Education, Dissertations, and Ipsative Feedback)
• Labour Economics (focused on Women and Graduates experiences in the Labour Market)
• Education Evaluation (focused on Impact Evaluation of Learning and Teaching Initiatives in Higher Education)
• Pay and Progression Gaps (focused on Gender and Ethnicity gaps in Higher Education)

Denise has published widely, most significantly in the American Economic Review, Journal of the Royal Statistical Series A, and Studies in Higher Education. She has a range of news media experience, for example in response to the 2023 Budget about the need for inclusive labour markets (Heart Cambridge talking about Disability and the labour market and I-News Blog on Mothers' employment).

Denise has held research grants with various funders including ESRC, OfS, UniversitiesUK, British Council, and Horizon Europe. She is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA) and a Recognised External Examiner on the AdvanceHE National Directory.

She is the Chair of the Education and Training Committee, Royal Economic Society leading the committee which co-ordinates and oversees the Society’s activities relating to economics education and training and advises the Trustee Board on matters relating to the education and training of students studying economics at university and also on continued professional development for those working in economics.

Denise is also a Member of the Research and Evaluation Committee at Transforming Access and Student Outcomes in Higher Education (TASO), an advisory Board Member at Centre for Teaching and Learning Economics (CTaLE), and a member of the Management Board Economics Network (EN).

Prior to joining King’s, Denise was the Deputy Dean Accreditation and Enhancement in the Faculty of Business and Law at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU). At ARU she also served as the Interim PVC Dean and Head of School of Economics, Finance, and Law. Previously, Denise was a Professor and Head of Department of Economics and International Business at the University of Greenwich and Academic Head of Research, Consultancy and Knowledge Transfer in the Centre for Doctoral Education, UCL Institute of Education. Denise has led two doctoral programmes, EdD at UCL Institute of Education and PhD Business at University of Greenwich. She has held teaching posts at University of Greenwich, Queen Mary, University of London, and University of Oxford. She has held research posts at the Open University and Queen Mary, University of London, and in the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS). She completed her PhD at Queen Mary, University of London.

Are you currently accepting new PhD students?

Yes