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Esme Lillywhite

Doctoral candidate at the Inspiring Children’s Futures Doctoral Research Centre, University of Strathclyde. Research and Policy Officer at The Sutton Trust.

esme.lillywhite@strath.ac.uk

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Inspiring Children’s Futures Institute

Research

Current Research

• My current doctoral research focuses on the role of education in social mobility in the UK. Using data from the British Household Panel Survey, I am estimating intergenerational income mobility in the UK, seeing to what extent educational attainment plays a mediating and moderating role.
• Ongoing projects at The Sutton Trust.

Education & Social Mobility

• Lillywhite, E. Understanding social mobility, The Sutton Trust, 2025.

• The Sutton Trust. What is Social Mobility? Redefining Opportunity in Britain, 2025.

• Elliot Major, L., Eyles, A., Lillywhite, E. & Machin, S. A generation at risk: Rebalancing education in the post-pandemic era, Nuffield Foundation, 2024

• Eyles, A., Lillywhite, E. & Elliot Major, L. The Rising Tide of School Absences in the Post-pandemic Era, British Politics and Policy at LSE, 2023

• Lillywhite, E. Shaping Social Mobility: Education & Employment- Conference Briefing, Cumberland Lodge, 2022

• Klein, M., Sosu, E. & Lillywhite, E., School Absenteeism and Educational Attainment- Evidence from the Scottish Longitudinal Study, University of Strathclyde, 2022.

Comparative Politics

• Carnes, N., Ferrer, J., Golden, M., Lillywhite, E., Lupu N., Nazrullaeva, E., The Global Legislators Database: The Personal Backgrounds of National Legislators in the World’s Democracies, Cambridge University Press 2025.