Media2026
Insecurity: the missing piece of the productivity puzzle
Municipal Journal
New research shows reducing insecurity can boost productivity, earnings and inclusive economic growth across local communities, says Saffron Woodcraft.
Saffron Woodcraft
Professor of Collaborative Social Science at UCL's Institute for Global Prosperity, she is an anthropologist and urbanist rethinking what prosperity means in the twenty-first century — and building the methods, metrics and community partnerships to measure it.
Currently
Leading the Prosperity in east London 2021-2031 study — a decade-long look at who gains and how from regeneration.
Podcasts, Talks & Media
Talks2026
Good Life Euston: Innovation, empowerment and building trust through citizen social science
London Data Week 2026
KQ Social Data in the City
Talks2026
Futureproofing Anthropology: What the World Needs from Us
UCL Social & Historical Sciences
UCL200 roundtable on how to make anthropology a public good, exploring the distinctive contribution of anthropological expertise to policy design, service provision and social change.
Talks2026
UCL200 global policy spotlight dialogue
UCL Bartlett
Hybrid event looking at different facets of global policy research that has taken place within the Bartlett, as part of the Bartlett's UCL 200 celebrations.
Research interests
Full overview →01
Prosperity beyond GDP
New models, indices and metrics for measuring prosperity that reflect what genuinely matters to communities — not just economic output.
02
Livelihood security
How households experience secure work, income, housing and services, and how policy can address the democratic deficit in economic decision-making.
03
Citizen social science
Co-designing research with community researchers so evidence is built from the lived experience of the people it describes.
04
Cities, housing & regeneration
Long-run ethnographic and quantitative work on London's Olympic Park, east London neighbourhoods and comparative studies in Dar es Salaam.
Recent publications
All publications →- ReportJun 2026
Livelihood Insecurity, Productivity and Earnings
UCL Institute for Global Prosperity — Policy BriefNikolaos Tzivanakis, Marcell Kurbucz, Georgios Melios, Henrietta L. Moore, Saffron Woodcraft - Working PaperApr 2026
Livelihood Insecurity, Productivity and Earnings: Evidence from the UK Household Longitudinal Study
IGP Working Paper Series, UCL Institute for Global Prosperity (ISBN 978-1-913041-67-0)Nikolaos Tzivanakis, Marcell Kurbucz, Georgios Melios, Henrietta L. Moore, Saffron Woodcraft - Working PaperMar 2026
Paths to Lower Pay: Physical and Mental Health, and the Role of Financial Difficulty
IGP Working Paper Series, UCL Institute for Global Prosperity (ISBN 978-1-913041-68-7)Nikolaos Tzivanakis, Nilufer Sari Aslam, Marcell Kurbucz, Henrietta L. Moore, Saffron Woodcraft - ReportFeb 2026
Engaging with Economic Wellbeing: report to Cardiff Capital Region
Clare Melhuish, Juliet Davis, Saffron Woodcraft, Blane Jones