Dr. Dave Beck

Current positions

Lecturer in Social Policy & Programme Leader Foundation Year in Social Sciences

Biography

Dave joined the University of Salford in 2019 and is a lecturer in Social Policy, becoming the Programme Leader for the Foundation Year in Social Sciences in 2021.
Dave is a food poverty expert with teaching and research interests across the Social Sciences. Dave’s interest around food and the social security system was shaped by a BA in Environmental Planning and Management (2012), an MA in Social Research and Social Policy (2013) and a Ph.D. in Social Policy from Bangor University in Wales (2018).
Dave’s MA and PhD research focused on the rise of food banks across Wales, understanding the politicisation of food banks and the lived experience of food insecurity. His research findings and outputs have since contributed to policy making in both Westminster and the Senedd, with evidence submitted to both House of Commons & House of Lords Select Committees and various All Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) discussing both food and social insecurity.

As a Social Scientist, Dave’s work principally follows two interconnected threads: food poverty and Universal Basic Income (UBI); addressing the socio-political influence of Neoliberalism and how changing welfare policies impacts peoples’ ability to provide food for themselves and their families. The focus here is on both practical and theoretical aspects of social security and examining the possibility of a Universal Basic Income as an answer to food insecurity.

External to his work at the University, Dave is the University of Salford’s representative for the Greater Manchester Poverty Alliance (GMPA) Principal Partner.

Dave is also co-chair of two UBI groups and part of the UBILab Network; UBILab Food and UBILab Greater Manchester, and is involved with World Basic Income.