About Professor Linda McKie

Research Professor in Sociology, Glasgow Caledonian University

Graduated with Ph.D. from the University of Durham in 1989. Before joining Glasgow Caledonian University in 1999 as Professor of Sociology, worked as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Aberdeen, Department of General Practice and Primary Care. Completed two periods of employment in the Civil Service; as a Senior Executive Office in the Inland Revenue and Head of Intelligence at the Equal Opportunities Commission. Between 2004-2010 Senior Visiting Fellow, Hanken, School of Economics, Helsinki (www.hanken.fi).

Elected to Academy of Social Sciences (AcSS) in 2004. Qualified as Certified Member of the Institute of Fundraising in 2009. Currently scientific lead for Marie Curie project, Intellectual Capital, Work and Well-being (IC-Well) and Staff Engagement, Absence and Turnover (SEAT) (see further details of both project on Organisations, Work & Care; the Evaluation of the Personal Development Project (PDP) (further details at Centre for Research on Families and Relationships).

Appointed a member of the Research Excellence Framework 2014 (REF), Sub-panel 23: Sociology. The REF is a process of expert review and is the UK’s comprehensive evaluation of the quality of research in all subjects undertaken at all publicly-funded higher education institutions (HEIs). The main tasks of the sub-panels to contribute to the development of the working methods and criteria that panels will apply when undertaking the assessment and to assess submissions from HEIs. This work takes place from 2011-2014.

Management and Leadership

  • Completed work on 24 projects which include the topics of employment, families, gender, health, organisations and violence.
  • Led 13 of these from application, delivery to final report and dissemination to varied audiences
  • Currently scientific lead on 3 projects on the topics of work, well-being and evaluation of partnership working in the third sector.
  • Forged a range of trans-disciplinary teams, including academics, policy-makers, practitioners and users of services
  • Negotiated and worked with funders including UK Research Councils, EU Social Fund and Frameworks, Government Departments and Third Sector bodies
  • Member of ESRC Committees: First Grant Awards (2007), Research Seminar Competition (2003, 2005 and 2010) and Research College for Sociology (1999-2003).
  • Member of 2009 and 2011 EU COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology)Committee for Individuals, Cultures, Society and Health.
  • 2005 member of the 3 person review team for the Greek National Centre for Social Research.
  • Range of UK committee work in Universities and Learned Societies, including chairing Research, Finance and Equalities committees. Also see Third Sector pages.
  • Mentored career development for 23 Research Fellows, 12 successful Ph.D. students and 4 Administrators, in addition to general advice to colleagues
  • Member of Research Advisory Group for Scottish Human Rights Commission
  • Certified Member of Institute of Fundraising

Examples of Recent Research into Policy and Practice

Organisations, work and care

  • Informing policies and practices on staff engagement, absence and turnover
  • Development of tool kit to inform HR policies and the evaluation of these
  • Briefing papers and engagement services with employers organisations and care policies in workplace. See www.organisationsworkandcare.org

Evaluation

  • Designed and piloted meta evaluation frameworks for programme of projects funded by Scottish Government (30 projects up to £26M funding)
  • Led development of the Evaluation Journey (www.ashscotland.org.uk) a tool and resource kit for self evaluation by small grant projects. 4,000 copies produced. On-line version available.
  • Decade of work on Lloyds TSB Foundation task group on evaluation for the Drugs Partnership Initiative (£8M and 20 plus projects).

Violence and violation

  • Facilitation of workshops and development of research bid with veterans organisations to explore implications of return from conflict for families and relationships.
  • Development of resource on supporting disclosure of domestic abuse in General Practice. 3,000 copies distributed across primary care and hospitals.

Finance and Planning

  • Across 24 projects have generated and managed grants totalling £2.25m
  • Established governance and financial planning systems for grants
  • Worked as elected treasurer for 2 charities: British Sociological Association and Evaluation Support Scotland. Advised on fundraising to 3 other charities.
  • Negotiated and worked with auditors, accounts and financial and planning staff in universities, Third and private sectors
  • Scheduled and monitored work across projects and units to ensure delivery on time and to specification.