Wolf Ellis is a Research Associate in the Centre for Research in Social Policy (CRSP). Wolf has worked on living standards, livelihoods and food security in a wide range of contexts, including rural and urban areas and refugee camps in the Global South as well as fieldwork in the UK. Methodologically, his research focuses on the intricacies of people’s experiences and on bringing the data available for research and policy-making closer to real life circumstances, aiming to contribute towards a better understanding of issues of welfare, poverty and inequality.
Wolf carries out both quantitative and qualitative research at CRSP, primarily as part of the Minimum Income Standard (MIS) research programme. He has also helped to develop a new Decent Living Index, which tracks inflation in the costs of meeting MIS-level needs.
Wolf is interested in patterns and implications of living standards and access to resources around the world, and the incomes, policies and other factors that contribute to them. Wolf’s PhD research quantified and contextualised the impacts of food aid for people visiting food banks and community meals in London, and developed new approaches to poverty measurement to fill gaps in existing data.
Previously, he conducted in-depth research in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda with Evidence for Development, in partnership with many larger organisations such as NGOs, universities, and UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency), providing detailed analysis of different households’ livelihood components and food security levels to inform the design and monitoring of humanitarian and longer-term development programmes. Wolf has also led a project evaluating potential sources of data for product safety monitoring systems.