Biography

Eileen holds an MSc in Social Policy and Planning from the LSE (winner of Charles Mostyn Lloyd prize for outstanding dissertation) and a BA (with distinction) from the University of Wisconsin Madison. Eileen is interested in developing a better understanding of “informal welfare” in Social Policy by exploring the significance of financial support relationships between people on low incomes. For her PhD, Eileen has conducted in-depth interviews with 50 working age social housing tenants, using an innovative mapping exercise that charts the financial dependencies between family members and friends.

Ms Eileen Alexander's current research interests are:

• Private rented sector and tenure dynamics
• Welfare reform
• Housing and neighbourhood policy
• Qualitative and geographic research methods including tenant peer research

Eileen's latest projects include:

• Investigation into how large housing associations can continue to invest in communities given current funding changes and resource constraints.