Ben is an anthropologist interested in social, cultural, and relational aspects of evidence-informed policymaking, social value, and welfare reform.
His current work explores Test, Learn and Grow (TLG), a £100million UK government initiative to transform public service grounded in the experiences of ten places across England.
He has published in journals including American Ethnologist, Economic Anthropology, the Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie (Journal of Economic & Human Geography). A full list is available on Google Scholar.
Ben is an experienced PI and has led several multi-country studies. A recent British Academy-funded project explored concerns about data quality within RCTs by drawing on the insights of enumerators in Kenya and Uganda. This combined participatory ethnography with economic experiments. Other work has included a Leverhulme Trust-funded study of investment in sustainable agriculture and European Research Council-funded exploration of financial innovations to support voluntary carbon markets. Earlier work looked at the role of major philanthropic foundations in transforming the dairy industry in Tanzania.
Ben is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has taught and supervised widely at undergraduate and postgraduate level in anthropology, sustainable business, and public policy.
He has consulted for a range of UK-based and international impact investing and foundation clients and sits on Social Value International’s Diverse Perspectives council.