Mark Fransham is an experienced quantitative researcher with skills in survey analysis, detailed knowledge of UK small area statistics, experience of collaborating on mixed methods research projects and an aptitude for communicating research to diverse audiences.  With a professional background in local government he is interested in comparative analysis of urban areas and their responses to economic and social change.  Prior to joining the LSE III he was conducting ESRC/EPSRC joint-funded doctoral research at the School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford.  His thesis 'Understanding neighbourhood income poverty dynamics in England' examines the dynamics of low income areas, more commonly studied using a cross-sectional view.  This includes the increasingly even spatial distribution of income poverty and its link to the greater use of private rented housing by low income families; the geographic distribution of persistent and occassional poverty; the spatial variation in poverty entry and exit rates; and the residential mobility of low income individuals into and out of gentrifying areas.  Mark has also published short commentaries on housing, homelessness and mortality rates in The Telegraph and The British Medical Journal.  

Mark is interested in using a wide range of data sources, including government administrative data, Census data and survey sources, and a range of quantitative methods including segregation indices, multilevel models and dynamic random effects models.  He has a diverse academic and work background; he studied physics and worked in social care before a 15-year research career in criminology, health and local government. He is a member of the UK Population Theme Advisory Board, a group which provides advice on improving the quality of population statistics and demographic analysis to the Office for National Statistics and the UK Government Statistical Service.