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Funder: European Research Council
Awarded: €3 million (Ulster share £15,000)
Duration: October 2023 to September 2028
Staff involved: Mark Simpson, Ciara Fitzpatrick, Ben Baumberg Geiger (Kings College London, project lead), multiple academic and voluntary sector collaborators in Estonia, Hungary, Norway, Spain and UK
Description
The overall aim of the project is to help advance academic knowledge and contribute to making claimant experiences better. To do this, the project will collect innovative, in-depth qualitative data and conduct new surveys of claimants in Estonia, Hungary, Norway, Spain and the UK.
By analysing benefits in five countries, the research team will be able to look at how claimant experiences are affected by everything from particular interactions (e.g. particular conversations or messages as part of their claim) to broad, country-wide factors (e.g. wider levels of trust that people have in different systems).
Most social security research has looked at whether these systems reduce poverty and encourage people to work. These are important, but we know that other things matter too — whether benefits provide dignity, security and feel fair; or whether people feel stigmatised, insecure, and unjustly treated.
