Leanne-Marie McCarthy-Cotter joined the Crick Centre in February 2015 as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate Postdoctoral Research Associate, Political Institutions and Democratic Reform on the ESRC funded project, ‘Shrinking the State’, examining the Coalition Government’s public bodies reform agenda.
Prior to joining the Crick Centre Leanne-Marie was undertaking her PhD at Cardiff University. In her thesis she examines the British policy making process, particularly looking at poor policy formation, flawed legislation, inappropriate delivery, and the reasons behind why policy-makers pursued certain actions, using the 1991 Child Support Act as a case study.
Leanne-Marie has also worked as a Researcher for The Bevan Foundation, an influential, independent think tank which inspires social justice in Wales through research, publications and events. She has also worked as a Researcher for Cuts Watch Cymru, a network of charities and voluntary organisations in Wales monitoring how reforms to the welfare system impact people in Wales. Leanne-Marie has also conducted externally funded research for a number of charities.
Her research interests focus upon institutional reform; governance and public policy; legislative studies; parliamentary scrutiny; constitutional reform; policy design and implementation; service delivery; policy transfer and policy learning. The focus of her research is Britain but with a growing interest in South-East Asia.