Researcher Profile - Ruby Chau
Ruby Chau
Care, Work, Welfare and the Life Course
Ruby Chau is an Associate Professor of Public and Social Policy in the School of Sociology and Social Policy.
My biggest ambition in teaching is to inspire students to apply and critically evaluate the theories and methods that they learned from our programmes to their careers and to bring benefit to the people that they serve.
How would you explain your research?
Taking part in paid work and caring for others are two main areas of activities for most adults in contemporary societies. They contribute to securing the livelihood and meeting the needs of individuals and families. Additionally, the former contributes to the supply of labour force in sustaining economic development. The latter nurtures desirable social relationships for social development. Therefore, people’s working and caring activities are not purely their private matters. The state and society have an indispensable role in supporting them through welfare measures (e.g. education, health and social care, housing, social security, pensions) in different periods and circumstances of their life courses. Welfare arrangements may vary according to the needs and preferences of the individuals and their families, and the socio-economic, cultural and political conditions of the society.
What inspired you to pursue this area?
I am a social worker and social policy researcher by training. I was raised in colonial Hong Kong in a working-class family and later received a postgraduate education in the UK. I am a first-generation migrant and a female social scientist with an ethnic minority background. Such life experiences have helped develop a cross-cultural and intersectional lens in the understanding of challenges faced by socially disadvantaged groups such as migrants, people with disabilities and women. How to organise their working and caring lives is a universal concern of most adults. This research area provides ample opportunities to observe how welfare can empower or disempower individuals and families in different contexts; and how it may improve or worsen socio-political and economic conditions.
How will your research affect the average person?
Most of my research is applied by nature with a primary interest in informing policy and practice to improve people’s lives and promote social development. By adopting a participatory approach, my research also aims to empower socially disadvantaged groups by involving them in the coproduction of research and co-design of policy and practice.
How does your research influence your teaching?
My teaching is research-based. It is always informed by my or other researchers’ work. My biggest ambition in teaching is to inspire students to apply and critically evaluate the theories and methods that they learned from our programmes to their careers and to bring benefit to the people that they serve.
What's been the greatest moment of your career so far?
The biggest moment of my career was when my first book ‘Women, Welfare and Productivism in East Asia and Europe’ (co-authored with Sam Yu) was published by the Policy Press in 2022. It is a milestone of my research in the area, summing up my research in the area in the past 20 years and opening many more doors for its further development.
What's the biggest challenge in your field?
Social Policy is a comparatively young social science discipline and may not have received as much attention as it deserves. As a type of government intervention, social policies are commonly subordinate to economic or other policies. My research stresses the interconnectedness of social and other government policies, the importance of cross-disciplinary collaboration and a holistic and integrated approach to resolving social problems.
What advice would you give to someone considering an undergraduate degree in social policy?
Social Policy may not be a subject familiar to many people. However, most (if not all) of us have lived experienced of social policies, for example by receiving state education and using public health care. Social Policy is distinguished from other disciplines by its emphasis on promoting social goals through collective actions. A social policy curriculum usually involves a theoretical understanding of social and welfare issues, the development of critical thinking, research method training and more importantly, skills to inform policy and practice. It suits students who aspire to contribute to resolving social problems, improving people’s lives, and promoting social development at local, national and global level.