Dr Helen Tracey

Helen researches and critiques the construction of long-term unemployment. Her research has explored the historical construction of the employment-unemployment binary and unemployment stigma in the North East of England. She is particularly interested in the relation between time spent unemployed and gender. Her work has included a critical perspective on the inclusion of unemployed people, as well as recommendations to research and practice on reducing the gendered impacts of unemployment. Her background working in social housing, unemployment projects and training for unemployed people underpins this work. Helen is currently researching libraries as third spaces where unemployed people can be supported to explore their identity in terms other than unemployment and seek social inclusion and welfare rights. 

• Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
• An embodied examination of the gendered impacts of time during unemployment and related considerations for organisational inclusion, Tracey, H., Brookes, M. 16 Mar 2026, In: International Journal of Management Reviews
• Inconvenient Academic Workers? Collective (Re)humanisation through the Dialogue of a Freirean Reading Circle, Gatto, M., Tracey, H., Callahan, J., Worst, S. 4 May 2026, In: Culture and Organization
• Inquiry-based learning as an inclusive approach to teaching international students, Tracey, H., Nguyen, D. 20 May 2025, Handbook of Inclusive Learning and Teaching in Business and Management, Cheltenham, Glos, Edward Elgar
• ‘You’d die if you didn’t have fun’: interpreting the experiences of long-term unemployed men as Bakhtinian death-rebirth, Tracey, H. 1 Jun 2025, In: Work, Employment and Society
• Ecoliteracy and ecopedagogy for environmental sustainability in education In support of ecocentric, arts-based business education, Kopnina, H., Black, K., Tracey, H. 26 Nov 2024, In: Visions for Sustainability
• It's a game of skill: playful learning through board game design, Groppel-Wegener, A., Tracey, H., Vigurs, K. 11 Nov 2021, Organisation and Human Resource Management, London, Taylor & Francis

• Martha Okonkwo EMPLOYEE RETENTION ISSUE IN AVIATION INDUSTRY USING JOB EMBEDDEDNESS A A TOOL TO REMEDY THE SITUATION Start Date: 28/05/2025 End Date: 17/10/2025
• Evelina Palmer Essential but Uncredentialed? Gender, Austerity, and the Professionalisation Deficit in Frontline Social Housing Officers. Start Date: 01/10/2025
• Evelina Palmer Exploring how frontline workers in social housing achieve social outcomes: impact and enablers Start Date: 01/10/2025 End Date: 17/10/2025
• Ecaterina Rotaru Adult ADHD diagnosis in women: What is the impact on their career choices and development? Start Date: 24/09/2026
• Martha Okonkwo Exploring Job Embeddedness (JE) Among the Long commuting Academics (LCAs) in UK Universities Start Date: 28/05/2025

• Human Resource Management MSc September 01 2015
• Fellow (FHEA) Higher Education Academy (HEA) 2016