Anna Thew

Anna is Research Fellow in Public Policy and Communications Lead at Northumbria University Common Sense Policy Group (CSPG), where she develops research and analysis across a range of policy areas aimed at reducing poverty and inequality. She has expertise in quantitative research methods, statistical software R, Stata and Python as well as public engagement and communications, with a track record of collaboration with think tanks and public bodies in publishing evidence-based approaches to transport and energy poverty, cost-of-living crises, skills and the local economy, higher education, socioeconomic background, graduate pay, and inequality.

Anna leads CSPG's analysis of public opinion data drawn from complex conjoint and adversarial co-production surveys alongside qualitative focus groups exploring lived experience. She is developing research capacity in analysis of longitudinal datasets and microsimulation as part of the CSPG's NIHR funded study, 'Examining credibility of current evidence for welfare as a public health measure: pathways, causation and cost-benefit of further research'. She is particularly engaged with policy developments in the North East of England as part of the CSPG's and Northumbria's commitment to our region. 

As CSPG's Communications Lead, she works to amplify the policy group's core research beyond academia, engaging with policy makers and the government to ensure that the group’s work achieves genuine impact for the benefit of citizens. She is dedicated to building her research capacity in welfare, public and social policy, and economics, particularly in areas of health, employment, inequality, and social exclusion.