Professor Felix Ritchie

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About me

I am an applied economist with particular research interests in

  • the use, quality and accessibility of government data, and its policy application
  • labour economics, particularly low pay
  • data management, data confidentiality, security and access
  • statistical disclosure control, privacy and identification
  • decision-making in the public sector

I joined UWE in June 2012 after working in a range of jobs in the public and private sector in the UK and abroad. I work regularly with lawyers, computer scientists, statisticians, psychologists, criminologists, sociologists and HRM experts as much of my work is inherently multidisciplinary. I have extensive experience of working with government departments to ensure that research is relevant, policy-oriented and accessible to non-specialists.

Since joining UWE, I have led and won 48 competitive tenders (36 as PI), generating income of £2m. Funders include the ESRC; the MRC; NIHR; Eurostat; the Low Pay Commission, the Department for Business, Industry and Skills; the Office for National Statistics; the Intellectual Property Office; NHS Digital; the Open Data Institute; DCMS; the Australian National Data Commissioner's Office; the Australian Bureau of Social Services; Statistics Canada; the Hellenic Statistical Authority; and the Wellcome Trust. I have also acted as a technical Expert Witness in the civil courts.

Much of my funded work is research and consultancy on data access and governance. I developed the Five Safes, active researcher management, the principles-based approach to data governance and output checking, and 'safe statistics'. I design and deliver CPD training on all aspects of data governance, including output checking.

I am Prinicipal/Co-Investigator for the ADRUK-funded Wage and Employment Dynamics project http://www.wagedynamics.com/.

In 2022 I was appointed Senior Strategic Fellow by the ESRC to help support its Future Data Services project.

I run the Data Research Access and Governance Network http://www.uwedragon.org/.

A list of publications can be found at www.felixritchie.co.uk/publications/felix_pubs.html. More information on confidentiality and privacy work can be found at http://www.fivesafes.org/ and http://www.saferesearchertraining.org/

I am keen to supervise PhDs in the areas of data management and confidentiality, goverment and governance, and low pay and earnings.

Area of expertise

Stata; low pay; minimum wage; apprentice pay; labor economicsconfidentiality; data ethics; data securitydata access; confidential data; evidence-based policymaking; quality and interpretation of government data; decision-making in government; data management; the Five Safes; EDRU models of data management

Publications

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