Current Research
Mark's doctoral research is about the spatial distribution of income poverty at neighbourhood level in England and takes a dynamic perspective rather than the more common cross-sectional view.
Mark uses this dynamic perspective in a number of different ways. The first is to consider how the spatial distribution of poverty is changing, in the light of changes in the composition of poor individuals and changes in the provision of housing. The second is to consider the degree of turnover in the population of low income individuals at neighbourhood level, due to residential mobility and poverty entrance or exit. The third is to look at individual poverty histories, and ask whether persistently poor individuals are more likely to live in high poverty areas than currently poor individuals. Fourth Mark looks at the intersection between individual dynamics and neighbourhood dynamics, and asks whether gentrification is associated with higher rates of out-migration for low income individuals - or more positively, whether it is associated with higher in-situ poverty exit or lower poverty entrance rates.
The research is based upon secondary data analysis, including local government administrative data, Census data and the UK Household Longitudinal Study. The methods include segregation indices, multilevel models and dynamic random effects models. It is funded by a joint ESRC/EPSRC doctoral studentship and is supervised by Danny Dorling (University of Oxford) and Rachel Loopstra (King's College London / University of Oxford).
Mark has a BA in Physics and an MSc in Applied Social Studies, both from the University of Oxford. Mark has previously worked in social care with young people and disabled adults, and has 15 years of experience working as a researcher in criminology, health and local government. He is a member of the UK Population Theme Advisory Board, a group which provides advice on improving the quality of population statistics and demographic analysis for the Office for National Statistics and the UK Government Statistical Service.