Dr Helen Abnett

Research Fellow, Centre for Research in Primary Health and Community Care

20222024

Research activity per year

Personal profile

Overview

I am a Research Fellow at the Centre for Research in Public Health and Community Care (CRIPACC), University of Hertfordshire. My research interests centre on understanding and improving the quality of public service delivery, particularly health and social care service provision. Specifically, I seek to both understand and problematise how voluntary sector organisations are engaged in the delivery of such services. This includes considering questions around how such organisations are funded; where the border is, or should be, between state and charity delivery of services; where responsibility lies for addressing inequalities in access to services; and considering how charities’ representational activities construct and reflect a particular discourse around the role of the voluntary sector in public service delivery.

I completed my PhD in Social Policy at the University of Kent in 2022. Between 2021-22 and 2023-24, I worked as a Research Fellow in the Third Sector Research Centre, University of Birmingham, primarily contributing to the Wellcome Trust-funded programme ‘Border Crossings: Charity and Volunteerism in Britain’s mixed economy of healthcare since 1948’. In 2022-23, I held an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship, also at the University of Birmingham, exploring the gaps and links between research in the Social Policy and Development Studies disciplines. Prior to completing her PhD, I spent 15 years working in a range of roles within the voluntary sector. 

 

Education/Academic qualification

Social Policy, PhD, The Role of English and Welsh INGOs: A Field Theory-Based Exploration of the Sector, The University of Kent

Award Date: 25 Nov 2022

Philanthropic Studies, MA, The University of Kent

Award Date: 1 Sept 2018

Development Management, BSc, London School of Economics and Political Science

Award Date: 1 Sept 2004

Political Science, BSc, The University of Bristol

Award Date: 31 Jul 2002

Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

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