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Elizabeth Cotton

(She/Her)
Associate Professor for Responsible Business, Middlesex University

I am a researcher and educator in the fields of employment relations, people management and mental health at work. My background is in international employment relations, working for Global Union Federations in countries in the global south and transition economies on educational and organising programmes. I was Head of Education and Programmes for a Global Union Federation (Industriall), and have written extensively about international employment relations, international solidarity and trade union education. My co-authored book Global Unions Global Business (Libri, 2011) looks at the experiences of trade unions internationally and their relationships with multinational corporations.

I returned to the UK in 2007 to work in academia and train in adult psychotherapy at the Tavistock and Portman Clinic. I have worked as a psychotherapist in the UK’s NHS as part of my training and worked with health teams and trade unions to build wellbeing at work. As part of this body of work I developed an online resource for health workers in partnership with the Tavistock & Portman NHS Foundation Trust which is free to access www.survivingworkinhealth.org. My book Surviving Work in Health: Helpful stuff for people on the frontline (Gower, 2017) was nominated for the CMI’s practitioner book of the year.

My current research focusses on the sociology of work and the link between working conditions and mental health. I am currently writing a book UberTherapy: The new business of mental health to be published by Bristol University Press in 2024. Recent media about my research published in the Telegraph Magazine, Daily Mail, Evening Standard, Channel4, Politics Home, i-D magazine, Guardian, Independent, Institute of Employment Rights. I was a contributor to BBC File on Four programme about the growth of EAPs and platformization of therapy (To be aired 12 March 2024).

I am a Trustee and Publications Director of the British Sociological Association with particular interest in the impact of Open Access on academic publishing. I was elected as Chair of the Editorial Board of the British Sociological Association’s AJG4 journal Work, Employment & Society looking at the sociology of work following serving as an Editor in Chief 2018-2022. During this period the journal was restructured and internationalized, and a new Editorial Team set up to start January 2022.

Experience

  • –present
    Senior Lecturer, Middlesex University