Donald is a former journalist and international policy consultant, who was Poverty Adviser to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation for the ten years prior to joining CRSP in 2008. He played a central role in establishing A Minimum Income Standard for the United Kingdom, CRSP's ongoing research programme showing what incomes households need for an acceptable standard of living as agreed by members of the public. Since 2012, he has been Director of CRSP, whose strong team of researchers lead the MIS programme and associated projects studying income. Donald plays a prominent national role in commenting on the adequacy of the public welfare system and on poverty trends. Together with his colleagues, he works with a wide range of groups including charities, the Law Society and the Scottish Government to find ways of applying the Minimum Income Standard in social policy and practice. Drawing on this experience of working with bodies outside academia, he has been Associate Dean for Enterprise since 2019, helping colleagues in social science and the humanities to build such partnerships into their research work.
- Hirsch, D. (2020) The cost of a child in 2020. London:Child Poverty Action Group
- Hill, K., Hirsch, D., Stone, J. and Webber, R. (2020) Home Truths: Young adults living with their parents in low to middle income families, Edinburgh, Standard Life Foundation.
- Hirsch, D. (2020) ‘After a Decade of Austerity, Does the UK Have an Income Safety Net Worth its Name?’ in J. Rees, M. Pomati and E. Heins (ed) Social Policy Review 32. Analysis and Debate in Social Policy, 2020. Bristol: Policy Press
- Davis, A., Hirsch, D., Padley, M. and Shepherd, C. (2020) A Minimum Income Standard for the United Kingdom in 2020. York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Hill, K., Hirsch, D., and Davis, A. (2020) The Role of Social Support Networks in Helping Low Income Families through Uncertain Times. Social Policy and Society, 1-16. Doi:10.1017/S1474746420000184
- Hirsch, D., Concialdi, P., Math, A., Padley, M., Pereira, E., Pereirinha, J., and Thornton, R. (2020) The Minimum Income Standard and equivalisation: Reassessing relative costs of singles and couples and of adults and children. Journal of Social Policy, 1-20. doi:10.1017/S0047279419001004
- Hirsch, D., Padley, M., Stone, J. and Valadez-Martinez, L. (2020) Social Indicators Research. The Low Income Gap: A New Indicator Based on a Minimum Income Standard. DOI 10.1007/s11205-019-02241-6
- Davis, A., Hirsch, D. and Padley, M. (2018) ‘The Minimum Income Standard as a benchmark of a ‘participatory social minimum', Journal of Poverty and Social Justice. Volume 26, Number 1, February 2018, pp. 19-34(16)
- Hirsch, D. (2017) 'The 'living wage' and low income: Can adequate pay contribute to adequate family living standards?' Critical Social Policy. Vol. 38 Issue:6 pp1-20.
- Hirsch, D. (2017) 'Contemporary wage floors and the calculation of a living wage', Journal of Employee Relations. Vol. 39 Issue:6 pp815-824.