Tom is Deputy Director and Research Fellow at SPERI. He works closely with SPERI’s Co-Directors to develop and implement SPERI’s research strategy through his own research and in collaboration with SPERI’s research team.
Tom leads SPERI’s Labour & Decent Work research theme. His research focuses on trade unions and on understanding contemporary working conditions and their effects for individuals. He is a Co-Investigator in the ESRC Centre for Care. He is a Senior Fellow of Unions 21.
Tom lead’s SPERI’s work to communicate political economy research findings to non-academic audiences; develop policy recommendations from political economy research, and build relationships with policymakers, journalists, and other relevant actors, who could be partners in our research or impact activities. Tom has co-ordinated large academic projects including the Industrial Strategy Commission (2017).
He has extensive experience of engaging with national and international policymakers, including cross-party parliamentarians; businesses; thinktanks; trades unions; and national media. Before joining SPERI Tom worked as a Parliamentary Researcher.
Research Interests
Tom’s research interests focus on understanding contemporary working conditions and how they change; trade unions, industrial relations and labour rights. He is interested in investigating ways in which workers, unions, states, industry and civil society can improve labour standards.
Tom has published a wide range of SPERI reports and policy briefs. His edited collection, The Coming Crisis (with Colin Hay), was published in 2018 in SPERI’s series ‘Building a Sustainable Political Economy’ with Palgrave Macmillan.
He has also worked with Colin Hay and Allister McGregor on research with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to develop a multilateral notion of inclusive growth.
Key Publications
Articles
- Tom Hunt and Harry Pickard (2022) ‘Harder, better, faster, stronger? Work intensity and ‘good work’ in the United Kingdom’. Industrial Relations Journal (https://doi.org/10.1111/irj.12364)
- Genevieve LeBaron, Remi Edwards, Tom Hunt, Charline Sempéré and Penelope Kyritsis (2021) ‘The Ineffectiveness of CSR: Understanding Garment Company Commitments to Living Wages in Global Supply Chains’. New Political Economy (https://doi.org/10.1080/13563467.2021.1926954)
- Colin Hay, Tom Hunt and J. Allister McGregor (2020) ‘Inclusive growth: the challenges of multidimensionality and multilateralism’. Cambridge Review of International Affairs (doi.org/10.1080/09557571.2020.1784849) .
- Tom Hunt and Liam Stanley (2019) ‘From ‘There is No Alternative’ to ‘Maybe There are Alternatives’: five Challenges to Economic Orthodoxy after the Crash’. The Political Quarterly (doi.org/10.1111/1467-923X.12707).
Books
- Colin Hay and Tom Hunt (eds) (2018) The Coming Crisis London: Palgrave Macmillan
Book chapters
- Tom Hunt (2018), ‘The case for Universal Basic Infrastructure’, in C. Berry (ed.), What We Really Mean When We Talk About Industrial Strategy London: British Academy
Reports and Briefs
- Tom Hunt (2022) Using Data to Build Strong Unions. Unions 21 report.
- Tom Hunt (2021) Under-paid and under-valued: assessing mandatory vaccination for care home workers in England. Sustainable Care Paper 4, CIRCLE, Sheffield: University of Sheffield
- Tom Hunt (2021) Covid-19 and The Work of Unions: New Challenges and New Responses. Unions 21 report.
- Remi Edwards, Tom Hunt and Genevieve LeBaron (2019) Corporate Commitments to Living Wages in the Garment Industry. SPERI & University of Sheffield.
- Colin Hay, Tom Hunt and J. Allister McGregor (2019) Exploring the paradoxes of inclusive growth: towards a developmental, multilateral and multidimensional approach. SPERI & University of Sheffield.
- Colin Hay and Tom Hunt (2018) ‘Inclusive growth: the missing multilateral dimension’, Working Paper for the OECD.
- Tom Hunt and Sean McDaniel (2017) ‘Tackling Insecure Work: political action from around the world’, SPERI report for GMB.
- Craig Berry, Tom Hunt, Neil McInroy, Matthew Todd and Amy Whillans-Weldrake (2016) ‘The real deal: pushing the parameters of devolution deals’, Joint report by SPERI and Centre for Local Economic Strategies.
- Craig Berry, Tom Hunt, Scott Lavery and Will Vittery (2016) ‘UK regions and European structural and investment funds’, SPERI British Political Economy Brief No.24.
- Craig Berry, Tom Hunt, Chris Kirkland Scott Lavery (2016) ‘UK regions, the European Union and manufacturing exports’, SPERI British Political Economy Brief No.23.
- Craig Berry, Andrew Gamble, Colin Hay, Tom Hunt and Anthony Payne (2016) ‘Reforming the Treasury, reorienting British capitalism’, SPERI British Political Economy Brief No. 21.
- Adam Barber and Tom Hunt (2016) ‘The UK banking sector and the corporation tax surcharge’, SPERI British Political Economy Brief No.20.
- Craig Berry and Tom Hunt (2016) ‘The rising tide of gerontocracy’, Report for The Intergenerational Foundation.
- Tom Hunt (2015) ‘Comparing the post-crisis performance of the Sheffield, Brighton and Oxford city-region economies’, SPERI British Political Economy Brief No.17.
- Craig Berry, Tom Hunt and Laura White (2015) ‘Public infrastructure investment and business activity in the English regions’, SPERI British Political Economy Brief No.15.