After completing an undergraduate degree in geography, Anne has spent nearly all of her career conducting applied research of relevance to academia and policy in research centres/ institutes in the higher education sector.
She started her career at the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS) in Newcastle. Apart from a short stint at the Department for City and Regional Planning in Cardiff she has spent most of her time at the Institute for Employment Research (IER), University of Warwick. She joined the University of Birmingham as Professor of Regional Economic Development in June 2017 in City-REDI (Regional Economic Development Institute).
Her research interests span employment, non-employment, regional and local labour market issues, skills strategies, urban and rural development, migration and commuting, associated policy issues and evaluation.
She has published in high profile journals and has written numerous reports for UK Government Departments and agencies. Anne is experienced in disseminating the results of her research to academic, policy and practitioner audiences.