Dr Steve Rolfe

Lecturer in Social Policy

Sociology, Social Policy & Criminology Colin Bell Building, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA

Dr Steve Rolfe

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About me

I'm still at a relatively early stage in my academic career, having spent 15 years working in local government prior to completing my PhD in 2016. Since then I've been doing a range of research related to housing, with a particular focus on housing outcomes for vulnerable households, and the role of organisations in providing housing and supporting tenants.

Alongside housing, I have a strong research interest in community activism and empowerment, based on my PhD and prior experience in the real world. And methodologically, I tend to use participative approaches, often with an element of mixed methods. I'm especially keen on using Theory of Change and Realist Research methods to get to the bottom of what works in different situations.

I teach across a range of social policy and housing modules. I am also the Undergraduate Programme Director for Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology.

My research in recent years has focused on housing outcomes, looking in particular at the ways in which housing organisations can assist vulnerable households to access and sustain housing, and to improve health and wellbeing. Building on my previous experience in local government, I am also interested in the ways in which housing relates to community regeneration and the impacts of neighbourhood on people's ability to settle and feel at home.

This fits with my broader research interests in community participation and what it delivers for individuals, communities and public services. Within this broad field I am especially interested in examining different forms of community action, issues of inequalities between and within communities, and the development of participatory democracy at a local and national level.

I am also interested in local government and public service reform more generally, which relates to my interest in policy evaluation. I have a methodological interest in the application of theory-based evaluation approaches (particularly Theories of Change and Realist Evaluation) to complex social policies and initiatives.

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