Barbara Jane Elliott (born 25 January 1966) is a British sociologist and academic. She is Professor of Sociology at the

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a research university in the West Country of England, with its main campus in Exeter, Devon. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of ...

. From October 2014 to September 2017 she was chief executive of the

Economic and Social Research Council The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), formerly the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). UKRI is a non-departmental public body (NDPB) funded by the UK government. ESRC provides fundi ...

. Her research uses longitudinal, qualitative and quantitative methodologies to explore issues of gender and employment.

Early life

Elliott was born on 25 January 1966 to Keith Elliott and Barbara Joy Elliott. She was educated at Sharnbrook Upper School and

Bedford College of Higher Education Bedford College of Higher Education was a higher education institution in Bedford, England, specializing in teacher training. History Until 1976, three separate institutions offered tertiary education in Bedford: Bedford College of Physical Edu ...

. She studied mathematics and then social and political science at

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

. She graduated in 1987 with an upper second class Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree. Later, she undertook

post-graduate Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor' ...

research in sociology at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

, completing her Doctor of Philosophy degree in 2001. Her thesis was titled ''Success stories: Narrative representations of women's lives?''.

Academic career

Elliott began her academic career as a

Research Associate Research associates are researchers (scholars and professionals) that usually have an advanced degree beyond a Bachelor's degree such as a master's degree or a PhD. In some universities/research institutes, such as Harvard/Harvard Medical Scho ...

at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

from 1987 to 1992. From 1992 to 1994, she was a

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

and lecturer in Social and Political Sciences at

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...

. She moved to the

, where she was a

research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a p ...

from 1994 to 1999. She moved from research to teaching when she became a lecturer in sociology at the

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

in 1999. She was a

Visiting Lecturer In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting scientist, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic fo ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

during the 2002/2003 academic year. In 2004, she moved to the

Institute of Education The UCL Institute of Education (IOE) is the faculty of education and society of University College London (UCL). It specialises in postgraduate study and research in the field of education and is one of UCL's 11 constituent faculties. Prior t ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. She was the Principal Investigator of the

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the thir ...

and

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

British birth cohort studies Birth cohort studies in Britain are four long-term medical and social studies, carried out over the lives of a group of participants, from birth. The earliest two started in 1946 and 1958. Principal cohort studies * National Survey of Health & De ...

. She was promoted to

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

of Sociology in 2009. From 2010 to 2014, Elliot was director of the Centre for Longitudinal Studies. The centre hosts the 1958 National Child Development Study,

1970 British Cohort Study The 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) is a continuing, multi-disciplinary longitudinal survey monitoring the development of babies born in the UK during the week of 5–11 April 1970. History Since the start of the BCS70, eight full sets of data ...

, and

Millennium Cohort Study The Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) is a longitudinal survey conducted by the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) at the University of London, following the lives of a sample of about 18,818 babies born in the UK in the year 2000–2001. His ...

. In October 2014, she became chief executive and deputy chair of the

. while retaining her title as professor of sociology at the

. She became professor of sociology at the

in October 2017.

Honours

In March 2015, Elliott was elected a

Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences The Fellowship of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS) is an award granted by the Academy of Social Sciences to leading academics, policy-makers, and practitioners of the social sciences. Fellows were previously known as Academicians and used t ...

(FAcSS). She was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in the

2020 New Year Honours The 2020 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

for services to the social sciences.

Selected works

* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elliott, Jane Living people English sociologists British women statisticians Fellows of the Royal Statistical Society Academics of the UCL Institute of Education 1966 births People educated at Sharnbrook Academy Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Alumni of the Victoria University of Manchester Fellows of Newnham College, Cambridge Academics of the Victoria University of Manchester Academics of the University of Liverpool Fellows of the Academy of Social Sciences English statisticians Commanders of the Order of the British Empire