PERU’s Chris Fox has become the National Liaison Official for the European Centre for Social Welfare and Policy Research. The European Centre is a UN-affiliated body, based in Vienna. Its purpose is to foster the collaboration between governments and organisations in the field of social welfare by

• providing applied social science and comparative empirical research on social policy in the UN-European Region
• forging the evidence-base for social policy making and mutual learning on social welfare issues
• initiating future-oriented public policy debates on social welfare issues by networking across the UN-European Region

Established in 1974 its key tasks comprise the exchange of experiences, research and knowledge, including policy consultancy and the promotion of dialogue between governments, the scientific community and civil society in the UN-European region. Research activities within the Centre are organised into two larger units, the Work and Welfare Unit and the Health and Care Unit. Over recent years the European Centre has had a particular focus on building bridges between EU Member States and countries of the Eastern Partnership.

As National Liaison Official for the UK Chris will act as an intermediary highlighting UK needs and policy priorities to the European Centre and disseminating research from the Centre in the UK.

The work of the European Centre is well-aligned with the work of PERU, which, in recent years has run a number of large national and international comparative projects on social welfare including the INNOSI project, funded by the European Commission and the European Cohort Development Project. PERU also shares the Centre’s commitment to encouraging innovation in the design of social policies and closer collaboration between researchers and policy-makers.

Chris Fox said “I am delighted to take on this role and am confident that, as Director of PERU, there will be numerous opportunities to further the work of this important European institution as it seeks to build closer links between policy, research and practice and encourages evidence-based innovation in social welfare”.