Professor Isobel Anderson

Professor

Housing Studies 4T13 R G Bomont Building, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA

Professor Isobel Anderson

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About me

About me

Professor Isobel Anderson is Chair in Housing Studies in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Stirling, where she has worked since 1994.

Isobel currently leads the Home, Housing and Community Research Programme and is Chief Examiner for the MSc/Diploma in Housing Studies. She has previously held a range of research and teaching leadership roles at Stirling.

Isobel’s main research and PhD supervision interests are in homelessness and access to housing; sustainable housing and communities; inequality and social exclusion; housing and health/well-being; participation and empowerment; international comparative housing studies; use of evidence for policy and practice. 

She is active in the European Network for Housing Research (ENHR). She founded and the Working Group on Welfare Policy, Homelessness and Social Exclusion (WELPHASE), jointly co-ordinating this from 2004-2013. Since 2015, she has been joint co-ordinator of the working group on Housing in Developing Countries. She is a UK partner in the African Research Network for Urbanization and Habitable Cities, launched in 2019 and led by the Centre for Housing and Sustainable Development at the University of Lagos, Nigeria.

Isobel is also a member of the Women’s Homelessness in Europe Network (WHEN).

She was previously UK researcher for the European Observatory on Homelessness (convened by FEANTSA, the EU association of national homelessness agencies) and remains on the international advisory committee of the European Journal of Homelessness (www.feantsa.org) 

Research (18)

Isobel leads the University's Home, Housing and Communities research programme, which is developing international and interdisciplinary research connecting residential environments and lived experience across the life course.  

Isobel is also a member of the Public Services and Governance Research Group within the  Faculty of Social Science, reflecting her social policy interests in governance, welfare and social inequality.

Her personal research has focused on housing, inequality and social exclusion in the UK and international contexts including:

Housing policy and the social welfare dimensions of housing Homelessness, housing rights and equalities in access to housing Sustainable housing, neighbourhoods and communities Housing governance, interprofessional working and issues of empowerment and participation

Projects

Harm reduction intervention for severe drug and/or alcohol dependence among people who are homeless
PI: Professor Tessa Parkes
Funded by: National Institute for Health Research

Working together: improving housing outcomes for the ex-Services community
PI: Professor Isobel Anderson
Funded by: Forces in Mind Trust

Commonhealth (Developing methods to evidence social enterprise as a public health intervention)
PI: Professor Isobel Anderson
Funded by: Medical Research Council

Evaluation Support for Wheatley Group Veterans Service
PI: Professor Isobel Anderson
Funded by: Wheatley Housing Group Limited

New Urban Agenda and Housing
PI: Professor Isobel Anderson
Funded by: The British Academy

Housing through social enterprise- implications for tenants, housing providers and wider society (Commonhealth Project 7)
PI: Professor Isobel Anderson
Funded by: Medical Research Council

Effective Allocation of Adapted Social Housing (Stage 1)
PI: Professor Isobel Anderson
Funded by: Horizon Housing Association

Sustainable homes in contrasting contexts: integrating social and architectural
PI: Professor Isobel Anderson
Funded by: The British Academy

North Lanarkshire Integrated Addiction Service (NLIAS) Evaluation
PI:
Funded by: North Lanarkshire Council

Feantsa/Habitact Peer Review Of Athens Homelessness Services
PI: Professor Isobel Anderson
Funded by: European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless

Production of e-learning materials on aspects of social housing management
PI: Professor Isobel Anderson
Funded by: Lemos & Crane Ltd

Resilience to Housing Crisis: the dynamics of young people's transitions to successful independent living
PI: Professor Isobel Anderson
Funded by: Scottish Council for Single Homelessness

Meeting the Needs of Homeless People
PI: Professor Isobel Anderson
Funded by: Norwegian Institute for Urban & Regional Research

The 2012 Homelessness Service
PI: Professor Isobel Anderson
Funded by: Shelter Scotland

The Integration of health services in a Comprehensive response to homelessness
PI: Professor Isobel Anderson
Funded by: Norwegian Social Research

Continuity or change in Cuba? Housing, Neighbourhood Participation and State Governance
PI: Professor Isobel Anderson
Funded by: The Carnegie Trust

Development of Action Frameworks on Anti-Social behaviour for the Scottish Policy Context
PI: Professor Isobel Anderson
Funded by: Joseph Rowntree Foundation

National Review of Research on Access to Housing
PI: Professor Isobel Anderson
Funded by: European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless

Outputs (40)

Outputs

Article

Parkes T, Matheson C, Carver H, Foster R, Budd J, Liddell D, Wallace J, Pauly B, Fotopoulou M, Burley A, Anderson I, Price T, Schofield J & MacLennan G (2022) Assessing the feasibility, acceptability and accessibility of a peer-delivered intervention to reduce harm and improve the well-being of people who experience homelessness with problem substance use: the SHARPS study. Harm Reduction Journal, 19 (1), Art. No.: 10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-021-00582-5


Article

Parkes T, Matheson C, Carver H, Foster R, Budd J, Liddell D, Wallace J, Pauly B, Fotopoulou M, Burley A, Anderson I & MacLennan G (2022) A peer-delivered intervention to reduce harm and improve the well-being of homeless people with problem substance use: the SHARPS feasibility mixed-methods study. Health Technology Assessment, 26 (14), pp. 1-128. https://doi.org/10.3310/wvvl4786


Article

Parkes T, Matheson C, Carver H, Budd J, Liddell D, Wallace J, Pauly B, Fotopoulou M, Burley A, Anderson I, MacLennan G & Foster R (2019) Supporting Harm Reduction through Peer Support (SHARPS): testing the feasibility and acceptability of a peer-delivered, relational intervention for people with problem substance use who are homeless, to improve health outcomes, quality of life and social functioning and reduce harms: study protocol. Pilot and Feasibility Studies, 5 (1), Art. No.: 64. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40814-019-0447-0


Book Chapter

Wolf J, Anderson I, van den Dries L & Filopovic Hrast M (2016) The Health of Homeless Women. In: Mayock P & Bretherton J (eds.) Women's Homelessness in Europe. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 155-178. http://www.palgrave.com/de/book/9781137545152; https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54516-9_7


Research Report

Anderson I (2014) Peer review on homelessness policies in Athens City (Greece). European Federation of National Homelessness Associations (FEANTSA) Peer Review Series - Discussion Papers, 5 (2014). HABITACT, FEANTSA. http://www.habitact.eu/files/activity/peerreview/_discussionpaper_athens2014.pdf


Book Chapter

Anderson I (2012) Policies to Address Homelessness: Rights-Based Approaches. In: Smith S, Elsinga M, O'Mahony L, Eng O, Wachter S & Fitzpatrick S (eds.) International Encyclopedia of Housing and Home, Vol 5. International Encyclopedia of Housing and Home, 5. Oxford: Elsevier Science, pp. 249-254. http://www.elsevierdirect.com/article.jsp?pageid=11696


Edited Book

Anderson I & Sim D (eds.) (2011) Housing and inequality. Practice studies. Coventry: Chartered Institute of Housing. http://www.cih.co.uk/publication/display/vpathDCR/templatedata/cih/publication/data/Housing_and_Inequality


Book Chapter

Anderson I & Sim D (2011) Introduction: inequality and housing. In: Anderson I & Sim D (eds.) Housing and inequality. Practice studies. Coventry: Chartered Institute of Housing, pp. 1-20. http://www.cih.co.uk/publication/display/vpathDCR/templatedata/cih/publication/data/Housing_and_Inequality


Book Chapter

Anderson I (2011) Re-focusing on inequality. In: Anderson I & Sim D (eds.) Housing and inequality. Practice studies. Coventry: The Chartered Institute of Housing, pp. 21-38. http://www.cih.co.uk/publication/display/vpathDCR/templatedata/cih/publication/data/Housing_and_Inequality


Book Review

Anderson I (2009) International Perspectives on Rural Homelessness. Review of:
P. Milbourne, P. Cloke (Eds.), London, Routledge, (2006). 324 pp., ISBN: 0415343720.. Journal of Rural Studies, 25 (2), pp. 251-252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2008.09.002


Teaching

Teaching

Chief Examiner, MSc/Diploma in Housing Studies (2018-19) Isobel teaches on the Post-Graduate MSc/Diploma in Housing Studies (full-time & part-time programmes). She has coordinated modules HOUP004 Housing Finance and Strategy, HOUP005 Housing Governance and (until 2019) HOUP006 Healthy Housing. She also supervises MSc dissertations and reflective practice portfolios.   Isobel also contributes to the BA Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology with contributions to Modules SPCU9PB Home, Housing and Communities and CRMU9TW Criminological Theories and Applications, along with Honours Dissertation supervision. She makes occasional contributions to other MSc programmes, including dissertation supervision.

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