Professor Sue Yeandle

Director, CIRCLE

Professor Sue Yeandle profile picture

Sue Yeandle BA (Hons) PhD is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Centre for International Research on Care, Labour and Equalities (CIRCLE) in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Sheffield. She a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, Principal Investigator for the ESRC Centre for Care, and founding Editor-in-Chief, International Journal of Care and Caring.

In 2015, Sue brought CIRCLE to the University of Sheffield from the University of Leeds where it had been based since 2006. She was awarded her PhD in 1984 and across her career has studied the relationship between work and care, how social and employment policies affect people’s life course experiences of caring roles and responsibilities, and the role of technology in supporting older and disabled people, carers and their networks. She has wide experience of evaluating the impact of carer support initiatives and specialises in comparative international analysis of care arrangements, leading numerous externally-funded research projects and publishing widely on care, caring, gender and work.

Sue has research connections around the world, throughout Europe and in North America, East Asia, Australia and New Zealand. She was Principal Investigator, ESRC Sustainable Care: Connecting People and Systems programme (2017-21) and Deputy Director, IMPACT (the Health-Foundation/ESRC Adult Social Care Evidence Implementation Centre) from its inception until spring 2022. During her career, Sue has built numerous multidisciplinary research teams in partnership with collaborating universities, industrial partners, government departments, local authorities and charities. She is an experienced PhD supervisor and has helped guide the early careers of many co-researchers and team members.

Sue’s career has included periods at the Universities of Durham, Swansea, Nottingham Trent, Sheffield Hallam and Leeds and as a government researcher. She been an academic visitor at universities in Australia, Canada, Finland, Northern Ireland and New Zealand and is honoured to have worked closely with Carers UK for over 20 years and of her many connections to the carers’ movement around the world. Sue continues to work in close collaboration with a variety of care sector partners to further understanding of contemporary issues in care, and regularly provides evidence and advice on social care and carers to governments and parliamentarians in the UK and internationally.

Research and publications

Sue’s published books include:

Other recent publications include:

On Tuesday 22nd October 2019, Sue participated in a panel discussion held by the Social Market Foundation (SMF), supported by the Economic and Social Research Council- ‘Ask the Expert: How do we better support the UK’s older carers?’

Watch The Discussion

Sue was also invited to participate on the SMF’s podcast after the event, choose a platform below to listen: