Professor Kenneth Nelson

Professor Kenneth Nelson

Fellow

Barnett Professor of Social Policy

Professor Kenneth Nelson holds the Barnett Professorship in Social Policy at the Department of Social Policy and Intervention (DSPI) at the University of Oxford. He joined DSPI and St Cross College in April 2023. Nelson was previously Professor of Sociology at Stockholm University.

Prof Nelson conducts research on the drivers and consequences of welfare states and social policy, often using comparative research methods. He has written extensively of various topics related to social policy, including the role of partisan politics, poverty, social inequality, health, intergenerational justice, and employment. Nelson is the director of the renowned Social Policy Indicators Database (SPIN). He is also co-chair of the European Social Policy Analysis network (ESPAnet), which is the largest international research community on social policy in Europe, if not the world. He is board member of the Foundation for International Studies of Social Security (FISS), and active in several research projects at European level.

Prof Nelson is currently also directing several externally financed research projects on the environmentally friendly welfare state, housing policy, and the measurement of social policy.