Social science research profiles
Like other research-led universities, Reading attaches a high priority to encouraging and supporting its relatively junior staff to develop their research careers. On this page a sample of our staff, from across the range of our social science research, talk about their research achievements and future plans.
Dr Natalie Hall, Lecturer in Psychology
Dr Dominik Zaum, Lecturer in International Relations
Dr Federico Martellosio. Lecturer in Economics
Dr Grace James, Lecturer, School of Law
Dr Natalie Hall, Lecurer in Psychology, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences
1. What's your main research area?
I am an Experimental Social Psychologist, with research interests in the field of stereotyping and intergroup relations. I currently have two main areas of research; these are stereotype priming and automatic behaviour, and reducing prejudice and discrimination between social groups.
Firstly, stereotype priming and automatic behaviour. It is an established finding that subtly activating a stereotype, has implications for an individual's subsequent behaviour. Typically, activating the stereotype of the group "elderly" leads individuals to inadvertently walk more slowly. My research has demonstrated that the extent to which this effect occurs can be predicted by the degree to which their own group identity is important to them.
Secondly, my research attempts to reduce prejudice and discrimination between opposing groups. My research (along with Prof Crisp, University of Kent) has investigated how reframing the way people think about categories (e.g., by asking people to think about multiple groups, or one overarching group) can improve intergroup relations.
2. What are the key messages from your research so far?
In both lines of research I have demonstrated that the commitment an individual feels towards a group is a key moderator. The extent that people are committed to their own group predicts the extent to which they assimilate to the stereotype of another group- put simply, people highly committed to being young are less likely to be influenced by the elderly prime and walk more slowly.
My research on intergroup relations also highlights the importance of an individual's group identity in predicting the way people respond to interventions that reframe the category context. Following a categorical prejudice reduction intervention that brings the individual's own group closer to another group, individuals highly committed to their own group identity tend to react negatively, increasing the bias they display towards another group, unless the salience of both their own group and the superordinate group is maintained.
3. What are your research plans for the next few years?
I am currently extending my research on automatic behaviour to the area of stereotypical humour, in particular sexist humour. Research in progress (with Prof Spears at Cardiff and Dr Bry at Reading) is investigating the consequences of sexist humour for women. This ESRC funded grant examines how women's career choices and behavioural measures (such as performance on a driving game) are automatically influenced by the expression of sexist humour and whether these responses are predicted by their commitment to the group women and the extent to which they endorse sexist ideology. Planned extensions of this work will investigate the circumstances under which women challenge sexist humour and the implications this has for their subsequent behaviour.
4.What are the highs and lows of being an academic researcher at the University of Reading?
One of the many positive benefits of being an academic researcher in the Social sciences at the University of Reading, is the provision of support provided for Early Career Academics, both financial and in terms of skill development. In the last year I received University of Reading (RETF) Social Sciences pump-priming funding to carry out pilot work which supported a subsequent grant application. The University also funded my attendance at an external course for the development of management and leadership skills. I think that this course has enhanced my skills as a manager and leader and will help me lead my expanding research team over the next few years.
Dr Dominik Zaum, Lecturer in International Relations, School of Politics and International Relations
1.What's your main research area?
I am currently working on two main research areas. The first is the role of the United Nations Security Council in addressing the problem of war, and threats to international security more generally. I published two books on the Security Council last year, and am currently examining the legitimacy problems of the Council. My second research area is peacebuilding, in particular the reconstruction of political, social, and economic institutions in post-war territories. I have conducted extensive fieldwork in Bosnia and Kosovo, examining among other things the reforms of the civil service, the rebuilding of the judiciary, and economic reforms.
2.What are the key messages from your research so far?
My research on post-conflict peacebuilding has shown how liberal norms of democracy, human rights, and free markets have shaped the policy choices of the international community in its reconstruction efforts, and has contributed to the debate about the importance of norms and ideas in International Relations. Other research findings have had greater relevance for policy: work on corruption in post-conflict peacebuilding, for example, has highlighted the complex impact of corruption, which in the long term often seems to threaten peace and stability, but in the short term might be an important instrument to 'buy out' spoilers in peace processes, and to find a settlement and end a conflict in the first place.
3.What are your research plans for the next few years?
Together with Prof. Mats Berdal from King's College London, I have started a new three-year project entitled Power after Peace: The Political Economy of Post-conflict Statebuilding, which is supported by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. We are putting together a research group of leading international scholars to examine the impact of statebuilding on post-conflict societies, and its consequences for stability and development. I am also part of the five-year Leverhulme Project on The Liberal Way of War, and will examine the specific problems liberal states face when they try to end wars and rebuild post-war societies.
4.What are the highs and lows of being an academic researcher at the University of Reading?
One of the most enjoyable aspects of my research work at Reading has been the freedom to pursue the projects that interested me. Neither the School of Politics and International Relations nor the Faculty have ever pushed me to pursue a different area of research, and have provided fantastic support in particular when it came to putting together grant applications. The location and good transport links also make it easy to collaborate with colleagues in other universities, and I have worked closely with academics in Oxford and London on a range of projects. Unfortunately, it can sometimes be difficult to carve out enough time for my research during term-time. However, this is probably a problem that academics face at universities across the UK.
Dr Dominik Zaum's staff webpage
Dr
Federico Martellosio. Lecturer in Economics, Henley Business School
1.What's your main research area?
I'm an econometrician. I am particularly drawn towards theoretical issues, but I am also interested in applications. So far I have mainly worked in the area of spatial econometrics, which is concerned with the process of extracting information from economic data having some spatial connotation. Such data arise frequently in spatial economics, the subfield of economics that studies the allocation of scarce resources over space and the location of economic activity. My research is concerned with developing statistical models and tools to analyse spatial data, and to understand the properties of existing spatial statistics techniques. Issues associated to spatial externalities, neighborhood spillovers, agglomeration effects, strategic and social interactions have attracted considerable interest in recent economic literature, both on a theoretical and empirical level, so spatial econometrics is a very exciting area to work in.
2.What are the key messages from your research so far?
Some of the statistical methods that are currently used in spatial econometrics are simple extensions of procedures derived in the time-series literature. My research so far has highlighted some problems with such statistical methods, and hence the need to develop new tools that take into account more explicitly the peculiarities of spatial data arising in economics. For example, in a recent paper I have studied problems in the specification of a popular class of statistical models, called spatial autoregressive models. In another paper, I have investigated the circumstances under which our ability to detect spatial dependence in the errors of a standard linear regression model vanishes. I have also worked in the area of multivariate spatial statistics. Here, I have shown that the mathematical structure of spatial design matrices, which are objects useful for several inferential purposes in the context of spatial processes, can be completely characterized, leading to new formulae that should prove useful in applications.
3.What are your research plans for the next few years?
I would like to establish myself as a creative researcher in econometric theory. To this aim, I am directing my efforts towards building a strong publication record. I am also exploring possible collaborations with other researchers, both within and outside the University of Reading, in order to secure external funding. I plan to continue my work in spatial econometrics, but I would also like to start new projects in time-series econometrics.
4.What are the highs and lows of being an academic researcher at the University of Reading?
One thing that I particularly enjoy at the University of Reading is the research-oriented environment. Of course, other activities such as teaching are also an important part of our job as academic researchers. Allocating time to various activities can sometimes be challenging, but I guess this happens in any research active university!
Dr Federico Martellosio's staff webpage
Dr Grace James, Lecturer, School of Law
1.What's your main research area?
My main area of research is 'family-friendly' employment law. This is a fairly broad and very topical area - I am particularly interested in the way that employment law attempts to regulate family/workplace relationships and its ability (or not) to accommodate the needs and desires of pregnant workers and new parents (mothers and fathers).
2.What are the key messages from your research so far?
The key messages from my research so far are that current laws and policies, at both a UK and an EU level, are failing to protect pregnant workers and new mothers from discrimination at work: for example, my research has revealed how, on average, a thousand women annually bring a claim to an employment tribunal following an alleged pregnancy-related dismissal. This is particularly surprising as an estimated 30,000 women annually experience pregnancy-related discrimination at work. Whilst sensitive to the limits of law's ability to bring about social change, my research suggests that the substance of the legislation and the application of the law at courts and tribunals, as well as the mechanics of the employment tribunal system, are fundamentally failing to provide working families with the legal support they need.
3.What are your research plans for the next few years?
There are at least three strands, albeit inter-related: firstly, I plan next year, during a period of study leave, to conduct some comparative research and look more closely at the legal responses of other countries, within and beyond the EU, to the challenges posed by the need to reconcile work and family life. Secondly, in an attempt to improve law's potential as a means of dispute resolution in the event of a pregnancy-parenting-workplace dispute, I plan to further investigate the reasons behind (and implications of) what I have referred to as the 'litigation gap' – the gap between the numbers of workers allegedly experiencing pregnancy or parenting-related discrimination and those who actually litigate as a result of discrimination. This will involve a funding application in 2009. Thirdly, I have recently, along with a colleague at Stirling University, sought funding to establish a research network (of academics and practitioners) to promote more inter-disciplinary collaborations and discussions regarding the challenges of work/family reconciliation.
4.What are the highs and lows of being an academic researcher at the University of Reading?
Highs? The study leave programme operating within the School of Law has proved to be very useful for promoting research: this has provided me on two separate occasions (one of which will be taken in 2009-10) with a term, free from teaching and administrative duties, to focus on a research project for a solid period of time. Of course, the most positive aspect of my time at Reading has been the support of particular colleagues who are always willing to read and discuss my work / ideas and comment on my research plans or provide encouragement and practical advice.
Lows? At the risk of sounding more cynical than I actually am, and especially as I don't think that the 'lows' are unique to Reading, I shan't list them here. Suffice to say that there are, at a time when the ability to reach funding targets, manage projects, and produce RAE outputs have come to define a 'good researcher', inevitable frustrations too.