Professor Leaza McSorley

Professor Leaza McSorley’s research expertise is in regional economics (particularly EU Cohesion policy) and labour economics (social inclusion and wage inequality). She is a Fellow of the Regional Studies Association and former Chair of the Regional Studies Association Scotland. She was co-investigator of the ESRC Productivity Insights Network, where she was the Inclusive Productivity Theme Lead and Lead for supporting early career researchers, as well as a member of the Productivity Institute’s Yorkshire Humber and North East Productivity Forum. A grantee of the ESRC-funded Rebuilding Macroeconomics, Co-ordinator of the EU Cohesion Policy Research Network, and an Advisory Board member of the ESRC’s Propel Hub.  She has contributed to several international funded research projects, acted as Principal Investigator and has delivered research and policy advice to the UK Government, Government Office for Science, Scottish Government, European Commission, Council of the European Union, OECD and ILO.  She started her career as a local government policy officer in economic development focusing on youth unemployment, regeneration and community planning.  She has worked in the private sector as an Economist and economic consultant.

Prior to joining NIESR Leaza was Professor at the University of Sunderland and has held academic posts at Glasgow Caledonian University and the University of Strathclyde. She started her career as an Economist with Experian, an early pioneer in the use of ‘big data’. Prior to entering academia Leaza worked as a local government officer in economic development and corporate policy focused on delivering economic regeneration and labour market policy.