Roz is a Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at Manchester Metropolitan University. She is Programme Lead for BA (Hons) Public Services and Master's in Public Administration and teaches on both programmes. She is also Pathway Lead for BA (Hons) Politics: Policy, Society and Community.
She is also Placement Coordinator and liaises with public sector, charities, social enterprises and the voluntary and community sectors to create placement opportunities for first, second and sandwich year undergraduate and post graduate students.
Doctorate of Philosophy (2015) ‘Transformative Community Engagement for Sustainable Regeneration’, Roz used an action research approach to work with practitioners, senior managers and residents to develop local services and enhance engagement practice and policy.
Post Graduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (2012)
Post Graduate Certificate in Management (2003)
BSc (Hons) Politics and Sociology (2001) Roz's undergraduate Dissertation explored the political participation of 18-25 year olds. As part of her final year, Roz undertook a Parliamentary Placement, working for Paul Stinchcombe MP as a Research Assistant for 6 months in the House of Commons.
Roz previously held the following Non-Executive Director roles:
- ForViva Group Board member - www.forviva.co.uk/
- Chair of ForViva Audit and Risk Committee
- Vice Chair of City West Housing Trust and Villages Housing Association
- Chair of Villages Community Housing Association
Knowledge Transfer Associate, University of Bolton (2009-2013)
As a Doctoral student Roz was based with Bolton at Home Registered Social Landlord and also taught on the undergraduate Regeneration programmes for mature learners.
Greater Manchester Strategic Allliance (GMSA) (2006-2009)
The GMSA was a Lifelong Learning Network of local universities, colleges and work based learning providers. Roz was Project Manager of two projects to develop modules for people working in Regeneration and members of the community across Greater Manchester (both £50k funding). She was also responsible for working with partner institutions (five universities and ten colleges) to deliver a key project – GMSA Advance (£4 million funding) to develop a GM Higher Education module interface. Roz worked with senior staff to develop infrastructure projects to deliver flexible courses, engage with employers, support learners and manage course information.
Salford Multiple Sclerosis Society (part time 2004-2008)
As Chair and Secretary, Roz managed the branch accounts (£30k) and represented the branch at local, regional and national events (average ten annually). She recruited, trained and managed seven volunteers with MS and liaised with health and social care professionals, other MS branches and National Centre. Roz undertook a Research Project to develop a Greater Manchester MS Services Website (with 11 branches) and presented at the Salford Royal Primary Care Trust Good Practice Conference in 2007. She also organised ‘Getting to Grips’ courses for people who were newly diagnosed and their families and took part in fundraising events.
Salford University (2001- 2006)
Roz was Project Manager of a User Involvement Research project on a limited budget, collecting and analysing qualitative data about the involvement of patients, users and carers of health services and carers, in teaching and research, to provide recommendations for Senior Managers and develop Faculty of Health and Social Care strategy.
As Funding Support Officer, in the Academic Enterprise Department, Roz had direct responsibility for the financial management of a North West Development Agency project (£1.5 million), delivered in partnership with five North West Universities to create action learning sets for small and medium sized employers. She was also responsible for the project management and financial administration of a European Regional Development Fund project (£500k) and monitoring and evaluation of two European Regional Development Fund projects, submitting claims, securing audit certificates and delivering training.
BA (Hons) Public Services Programme Lead
MPA Programme Lead
Personal Tutor for UG and PG
Departmental Personal Tutoring Strategy Group
Departmental Online Teaching Working Group
Past roles:
Health and Safety Coordinator for the Department of History, Politics and Philosophy
Research Ethics and Governance Representative for the Politics and Public Services Section.
Public Services are vital. Education, housing, health and social care, local government, the prison and police service provide the everyday things we take for granted but are massively important to our society and way of life. These services form the basis of our infrastructure at a local, regional and national level and have been undergoing wide ranging and substantial change over recent times. There is also a growing political view that public services can be delivered more cost effectively by the private, voluntary and community sectors.
As the placement co-ordinator for the course, Roz aims to bring together theory and practice by inviting students to reflect upon their experience gained from placement. This encourages a more holistic worldview, develops employability skills and contributes to the work of local organisations.
On BA (Hons) Politics: Policy, Society and Community
- Society and Community: An Introduction (Year 1)
On BA (Hons) Public Services:
- Social Housing and Healthcare (Year 3)
- Research Planning (Year 3)
- Delivering the Research Plan (Dissertation) (Year 3)
on Master's in Public Administration:
- Dissertation
- Housing and Health in the Community
She would be interested in supervising students exploring the following research areas:
- Co-production in public services, especially higher education
- Public Services, especially new innovative models of service delivery
- Organisational change, staff engagement and wellbeing
- Community based models of support to tackle unemployment, health and wellbeing, financial inclusion, and digital literacy using holistic approaches.
Roz was the external examiner on the validation panel in 2015 for Foundation Degree in Public Services accredited by UCLAN.
Roz has research expertise in social housing, regeneration, community engagement, community development, tenant involvement and user involvement. Research interests include anti-poverty strategies, development of neighbourhood services, methodologies to demonstrate social impact and use of arts in community work.
Roz is part of the Research Centre for Applied Social Science (RCASS) based in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities.
http://www2.mmu.ac.uk/research/our-research/education-business-and-social-sciences/rcass/
Roz also works with colleagues in The Policy Evaluation and Research Unit (PERU) on housing and homelessness issues http://www.mmuperu.co.uk/
Roz's work was submitted to the REF 2014 as part of the University of Bolton's Architecture, Built Environment and Planning category as an Impact Case Study - Regeneration and Facilities Management – Empowering communities through engagement.
Current collaborative research projects with local organisations and undergraduate and postgraduate students include:
- Social Impact Evaluation of Employment Services provided by Yes (Your Employment Service)
Report available here: www.yesmanchester.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Yes-Social-Accounts-2017.pdf
- Evaluating the impact of Welfare Reform on Bolton at Home customers.
- Exploring the social value of the DigiSmart project at City West.
- Investigating the benefits of ForViva's apprenticeship scheme.
Previous research work with Bolton at Home as part of an Organisational Strategic Service Review:
- Qualitative Evaluation of User Experience of the Bolton at Home Urban Care And Neighbourhood (UCAN) Centres (2010)
- Community Engagement and Empowerment Research Report - UCAN Centre Managers Findings (2010)
- Community Engagement and Empowerment Research Report - UCAN Centre Officers Findings (2010)
- Community Engagement and Empowerment Research Report - Findings from Senior Managers of Bolton at Home (2012)
Fox, R. and Powell, S. (2015) “Insider, Outsider or emergent and socially constructed positionalities? The role of action researchers in communities and organisations”. International Collaborative Action Research Network (CARN) Conference, Braga Portugal.
'The shrinking state and housing associations - do you do more or less?' Article published in Campbell Tickell's newsletter CT Brief number 10, September 2013.
Fox, R., and Nelson, M. (2011) Capturing Stakeholders view of Community Engagement, Salford Post- Graduate Research Conference.
Fox, R., Washington, J., and Cooper, A. (2011) Navigating the Research -Teaching Nexus: Work based learning project for graphic design students. Annual Learning and Teaching Conference, University of Bolton.
Fox, R., Nelson, M., and Johnson, M. (2011) Creating space for critical reflection in regeneration; capturing the lessons from community engagement practice. International Collaborative Action Research Network (CARN) Conference, Cambridge.
Nelson, M., Fox, R., and Akinsete, E. (2009) Bolton-led Employer Training Initative: A Case study in Collaboration in Regeneration. Research and Innovation Conference, University of Bolton.
- Tenants Advisory Participation Service (TPAS) Engaging Communities conference 2017 (keynote speaker)
- Manchester Green Party Housing Event, March 2017 (panel member)
- Manchester Literature Festival, In discussion with Sunju Lee, 2016 (chair)
- Regen 2 Conference organised by the Chartered Institute of Housing, Nov 2016 (panel member and speaker)
- Reimagining Regeneration Conference, Manchester, organised by the National Housing Federation, Jan 2014, 'Regenerating communities in the face of welfare reform (Chair of the panel).
- National Housing Federation New Board Members training, Dec 2013 (chair and keynote)
- National Housing Federation Board members conference, Changing and Challenging Environment, Oct 2013. 'How should Housing Associations respond to less public money?' (keynote)
Roz previously chaired a National Housing Federation Board Members Steering Group that aims to positively contribute to the social housing sector by improving the standard of governance in housing associations in the North West.