- Centre for Employment Research
About me
Professor Peter Urwin has over 15 years’ experience leading large-scale econometric evaluations for government departments, including HMRC, DfE, DWP, BIS (now BEIS), MoJ and MoD; and has been providing expert advice to HMRC for 15 years. His research has contributed to spending review submissions across departments; and his academic and policy work covers around 100 published outputs. Peter is an expert member of various Advisory Panels and his expertise in research has been recognized with an invite to Number 10. He is Principle Investigator for the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded study, Managerial competences, engagement and productivity; and the Nuffield Foundation study of Post-16 Educational Pathways.
Since 2010 Peter has led a series of innovative econometric studies of large government administrative datasets that identify evidence on the value of Further Education (FE) learning. This has provided evidence to inform major decisions on the Adult Skills Budget; it has helped change attitudes to FE learning and understanding of its role in social mobility; and has informed government data practice across the admin datasets that make up LEO, including in productionise environments. Peter recently lead an ESRC-funded study of Young People at Risk of Poor Educational and Labour Market Outcomes, which used LEO and his Nuffield funded study continues his work with this dataset.
Peter is a committed communicator of Economics to a wider audience and alongside his many media appearances, he hosts Economist Questions on Share Radio.
Education
PhD Econ: Older workers: Discrimination or Disadvantage?
MSc Economics, Birkbeck College/University of London
Postgraduate Certificate in Education, Worcester College of Higher Education
BA Honours (Econ.), Liverpool University
Teaching
Peter has extensive experience of teaching and learning, both through his own teaching and also in previous posts as Director of the Graduate Summer School; Teaching and Learning coordinator; School Professional Tutor and as a University Validation Panel Chair. Alongside this experience, he has furthered his understanding of UK Higher Education (HE) through the development of a successful strand of research.
Together with his colleague Elizabeth Michielsens, Peter developed and implemented the Masters Research Methods programme at Westminster Business School. He has received the highest consistent ratings amongst Government Economic Service (GES) Refresher courses, for the course on Econometrics for Policymakers.
Each year Peter delivers the Use of Evidence and Analysis in Policymaking to the HM Treasury graduate intake. In 2019 he was commissioned by HM Treasury to complete a series of podcasts tackling Cost Benefit Analysis, Regression, RCTs, Economic Models, Management Information and Surveys. These are now important technical support materials for those working in HM Treasury.
Research
Prof Urwin’s research investigates issues of education and social mobility, equality and diversity, entrepreneurship, employment relations and tax policy, with a focus on the use of advanced econometric techniques to capture causal impacts from policy interventions. Peter’s academic and policy work covers over 100 published outputs and he has provided expert advice to a range of bodies including DfE, Cabinet Office, National Audit Office, Ernst and Young, Diageo, Acas, DIT and HM Treasury.
Peter ensures that all his work is driven by practical questions of policy and is produced to the highest academic standards, securing publication in top-ranked academic journals.
Publications
For details of all my research outputs, visit my WestminsterResearch profile.