Dr Nicky Stubbs

Nicky joined the department in September 2021. He has a broad interest in industrial and political change, trade unions, economic development and labour markets, especially in Britain’s ‘de-industrialised’ regions. He teaches at undergraduate and postgraduate levels across a range of modules. Alongside his role at Sheffield, he works as a Research Fellow at Leeds University Business School, where he explores the nature of work in low-pay sectors across Yorkshire such as warehousing and logistics. 

Nicky’s background is in political and trade union research. He worked for the National Union of Mineworkers, where he analysed cabinet papers relating to the 1984/85 miners’ strike, in 2014 and has also worked with the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign. He has worked as a Parliamentary Assistant and as a speechwriter to first directly elected Mayor of South Yorkshire. He is also a member of the Coalfields Regeneration Trust’s board of trustees. He regularly speaks on de-industrialisation and coalfield communities at academic and policy conferences, and has engaged with international policy makers, including most recently Chinese government and coal industry officials, on the notion of ‘Just Transitions’.