Academic colleagues: interviews

David Donnison and Steve Winyard, were academic colleagues of the 1968/69 Poverty in the United Kingdom research team at the time of the study. You can watch their itnerviews below.

Professor David Donnison

In 1968, Donnison was an academic at the London School of Economics and colleague of Peter Townsend and Brian Abel-Smith. In 1969, he went on to work at the research think-tank, The Centre for Environmental Studies, and then, in 1975, became Chair of the Supplementary Benefits Commission.  In 1980, he moved to Glasgow University where he is now an Emeritus Professor in Urban Studies. In this interivew, he reflects back on the impact of social science research over the last fifty years.  His interview is in six parts:

  • Part 1: on the Townsend 'Poverty in the UK' 1968/69 study and its impact (5' 37")
  • Part 2: on social policy research and radicalisation (8' 12")
  • Part 3: on influencing political change - then and now (11' 26")
  • Part 4: on his time as Chair of the Supplementary Benefits Commission (16' 25")
  • Part 5: on the distinction between poverty and inequality research (9' 58")
  • Part 6: on the importance of a focus on inequality (10' 39")

Steve Winyard

Steve Winyard was studying at the University of Essex at the time of the Poverty in the UK research study and worked on some analysis of low pay data from the research for his dissertation. He subsequently has had academic career in the areas of poverty and disability and is currently (2016) Head of Policy and Campaigns at the RNIB.  In his interview he talks about his role, the impact of the study and the significance of Child Poverty Action Group (10' 43 ")



The interviews were conducted by Karen Bell (university of Bristol) for the ‘Poverty in the UK: advancing paradata analysis and open access’ study.

Please credit the ‘Poverty in the UK: advancing paradata analysis and open access’ study for any extracts used.

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David-Donnison-all-sections.pdf 91.87 KB

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