Ben Crawford
Bio
Ben works on green industrial policy, with a particular emphasis on the role of trade unions as actors shaping economic transformation. His research examines how state capacity for the green transition is conditioned ‘from below’, and foregrounds forms of economic coordination, distributional conflict, and political contestation within ‘just’ transitions.
He is currently leading research on trade union responses to climate and energy transition policies across the UK and Europe, with a focus on automotive, oil and gas, and renewable energy sectors. In parallel, he leads collaborative work with trade unions to support worker-led industrial transition initiatives. Ben is also developing analysis of the UK skills system, focusing on how institutional capacity can be strengthened to meet clean energy workforce and skills demands.
Prior to joining the Green Skills Lab, Ben worked on the Horizon Europe ‘AdJUST’ project, contributing to comparative analysis of policy approaches to managing the distributive impacts of the transition to climate neutrality across EU member states. Ben completed an ESRC CASE PhD in socio-legal studies at the University of Liverpool, in partnership with the Institute of Employment Rights. His doctoral research examined how corporate and private law structures shape labour outcomes, developing a ‘legal coding’ approach to analyse how legal frameworks distribute risk, value, and control within firms.
His research is interdisciplinary, spanning industrial relations, political economy, and law, and engages with questions of democratic participation, institutional design, and the political economy of decarbonisation.