As Professor of Economics and Director of CLS, Alissa leads some of the UK’s longest running national longitudinal studies. These studies collect valuable data for use by scientists working in many different fields in the UK and beyond these shores. Alissa’s own research has focussed on inequality and poverty, and the intergenerational transmission of advantage and disadvantage. Before joining UCL, she was a deputy director at the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
Commenting on her award, Professor Goodman said: “I’m hugely honoured to have received this award, and immensely grateful to the many thousands of cohort study participants up and down the country, who have given up their time generously since they were children and over the course of their lives, to take part in research that changes lives and gives the most marginalised in society a voice.
“I’m also so grateful to all my wonderful colleagues at CLS, who work with such dedication and passion to develop these fantastic cohort studies, that make up such a unique and important part of the UK’s data infrastructure.
“We’ve had a tremendous response to our special COVID-19 surveys, which are shining a light on how long-standing inequalities have been exacerbated by the pandemic, and we’re also working on assessing the feasibility of a major new birth cohort study, to capture the experiences of a new generation of babies being born in the UK at such a critical time.”
Congratulating Professor Goodman on her award, Professor Sue Rogers, Director (interim) of the UCL Institute of Education said: “I am absolutely delighted to hear that Professor Goodman’s sustained and outstanding contribution to social science has been recognised in the award of a CBE. Her leadership of the UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies has been incredibly important to our understanding of life course inequalities. At the UCL Institute of Education, we are immensely proud of this achievement.”
Head of the UCL Social Research Institute, Professor Toby Seddon, added: “Alissa’s work has focussed for many years on how inequalities open up early in life, and the steps that are needed for these to be reduced. Given the major challenges confronting societies today, this line of research is needed more than ever. Her contribution to the development of some of the UK’s unique and longstanding data resources enables researchers around the world to make insights on a whole range of social problems, and also makes a major contribution to the understanding of population health.”