Dr Francisco Azpitarte

  • UG Programme Leader (Criminology, Sociology & Social Policy)
  • Senior Lecturer in Social Policy
Publications
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Fran Azpitarte is a Senior Lecturer in Social Policy and Programme Leader for Undergraduate Courses in Criminology, Sociology, and Social Policy at Loughborough University. Fran specialises on child development and inequalities and the role of socioeconomic environments and social policies in shaping children’s opportunities and development.

Fran holds a PhD in Economics (University of Vigo, Spain) and has ample expertise in quantitative analysis and the use of large, complex datasets for evaluating children’s development and the influence of social policies. Before joining Loughborough in September 2018, he held the Ronald Henderson Fellow position at the University of Melbourne between 2011 and 2018. This was a unique joint appointment between the University of Melbourne and Australia’s leading anti-poverty organisation, the Brotherhood of St Laurence, and the role was specifically designed to co-produce high-quality research to inform policy and public debates in Australia.

From 2019 to 2024, Fran served as Lead of the Midlands Graduate School ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership's Social Policy Pathway at Loughborough. This role involved the evaluation of research proposals across the joint, collaborative and open ESRC funding competitions.  He is an active member of the Economic and Social Research Council Peer Review College and the Australian Research Council assessor pools and has acted as reviewer for 24 academic journals including leading journals in economics, education, social policy, and special education.

Since 2019, Fran has served on the Research Advisory Board of The Difference, a community organisation dedicated to advancing inclusive education. He is also part of the Evaluation and Impact Team at Sport Through Sport, a Nottingham-based non-profit dedicated to supporting vulnerable CYP. In these roles, he provides expertise to support those organisations’ research and evaluation initiatives.

Fran’s research focuses on investigating children and young people’s development and evaluating the role of social policies, socioeconomic environments, and institutions (e.g., schools) in influencing that development. He specialises in the analysis of large, complex datasets (e.g., longitudinal surveys, administrative data) and has extensive expertise in causal inference using experimental, quasi- and non-experimental designs and advanced quantitative methods including spatial and non-spatial econometrics, multilevel modelling, propensity-score matching methods, and geocoded data analysis for generating policy-relevant insights and evidence with a focus on vulnerable children and young people.

His research has been funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council, the Australian Research Council, and the Spanish Agency of Research among others.  Since 2017, Fran has served as core investigator for the Australian Research Council funded Changing Children’s Chances project, where he contributes his expertise with quantitative analysis and causal inference methods and Australian large-scale administrative and survey datasets.

Fran’s research bridges academic rigour with policy and has achieved international recognition for its real-world relevance and methodological contributions. In 2019, his research evaluating the causal impact of childcare attendance on school readiness and achievement gaps among Indigenous Australian children was awarded the Best Paper Prize by the Economic Society of Australia. This followed the 2015 award from the same society for pioneering a framework to evaluate how fiscal reforms affect income inequality and redistribution. Most recently, the British Educational Research Journal’s 2024 Editors’ Choice Award commended his work with Prof Louise Holt (Geography, LU) on the spatial and temporal trends in the educational outcomes of children with special educational needs and disabilities and the inequalities between Local Authorities in the context of England. 

Fran is the Programme Leader for Undergraduate Courses in Criminology, Sociology, and Social Policy at Loughborough University and delivers teaching on a range of topics in undergraduate and postgraduate modules.

His teaching specialises in quantitative research methods and is currently contributing to the following modules:

  • Introduction to Quantitative Research Methods  (Module Leader)
  • Inequalities Across the Life Course (Module Leader)
  • Advanced Quantitative Methods in Social Science (Module Leader)
  • Understanding Social Policy
  • Undergraduate and Postgraduate Dissertation Modules

Fran is available to supervise PhD projects investigating children and young people’s (CYP) development and inequalities, the impact of social policies and institutions (e.g., schools) on CYP development, and the role of socioeconomic and cultural factors in shaping CYP opportunities and outcomes.

Completed PhD Students

  • Dr Chloe Blackwell  – The Spending, Needs and Living Standards of Families Raising Children on the Autism Spectrum (Awarded 2022).

Current PhD Candidates

  • Gareth Ross – Investigating the relationship between prison social climate and criminal social identity within inmate populations.
  • Ezgi Aral – Understanding British Newspaper Coverage of a High-Profile Rape Trial: An Analysis of the Benjamin Mendy Case.
  • Carrie Harrop – Investigating financial needs and minimum income standards of care experienced young people transitioning from the care system.
  • Rafia Arshad – Investigating cousin marriage in the Pakistani community in the UK