The team comprises a group of researchers committed to the generation of high quality research, both qualitative and quantitative, to help generate the evidence base for the implementation of evidence informed policy.

The members of deprivation.org (Professor Michael Noble, Dr Gemma Wright, Dr David McLennan, Dr Helen Barnes, and Mr David Avenell) all previously worked together in the Social Disadvantage Research Centre (SDRC) at the University of Oxford. SDRC was established in the mid-1990s and undertook a wide range of research projects across the UK for national and local government, charities and research councils.

deprivation.org was established in the tradition of SDRC with a focus on social policy research (and training) in the areas of poverty, deprivation and inequality in the UK.

David Avenell is a GIS specialist at deprivation.org. 

Dr Helen Barnes is a Senior Research Fellow at deprivation.org whose research interests are in the areas of poverty and deprivation, particularly with regard to children, and also tax-benefit microsimulation.

Dr David McLennan is Executive Director of deprivation.org and a Senior Research Fellow. His main interests are in small area deprivation and small area measures of segregation and inequality. He also has a keen interest in the relationship between crime and deprivation/inequality.

Prof Michael Noble CBE is a Director of deprivation.org and an Emeritus Professor of Social Policy at the University of Oxford, and Emeritus Fellow of Green College Oxford. His main research interests are in poverty, deprivation, inequality and social security policy. He specialises in quantitative research methods and is committed to evidence-informed policy making. He was awarded a CBE in the 2008 New Year’s Honours List for services to research on poverty and deprivation.

Prof Gemma Wright is a Senior Research Fellow at deprivation.org. She has a special interest in poverty, child poverty, social security policy and tax-benefit microsimulation.