Alan Walker

Who Alan Walker is

Alan Walker CBE FBA is Emeritus Professor of Social Policy and Social Gerontology at the University of Sheffield, where he joined in 1977 and was appointed to a full chair in 1985. He is a specialist in social gerontology and co-developed the concept of social quality; he chairs the European Foundation on Social Quality and co-founded Sheffield's Healthy Lifespan Institute. He directed the £22 million New Dynamics of Ageing Research Programme (2005–15), the £6.5 million MOPACT programme (2013–17), and the £3.5 million ESRC Growing Older Programme (1999–2004). He has published more than 30 books, over 200 reports and more than 300 journal papers, with work translated into more than 20 languages. He is known for arguing that responses to demographic ageing are shaped by politics and ideology rather than demography alone, and for advocating social policy reform to improve quality of life across the life course.

References for this biography

1. 1.Professor Alan Walker – University of Sheffield staff profile (SPIR) — Establishes current emeritus status, title, research interests, honours list (CBE 2014, ESRC Impact Champion 2013, FBA 2011), APPG Longevity advisory board membership, and major research programmes directed
2. 2.Professor Alan C Walker CBE – All Party Parliamentary Group for Longevity — Confirms full name, post-nominals, Sheffield affiliation, 40+ years of ageing research, Lifetime Achievement Awards (2007), IAGG Medal (2011), and major European programmes directed
3. 3.Alan Walker – The Conversation profile — Confirms research scope, social quality concept, publication record, Disability Alliance co-founding (1974), and lifetime achievement awards
4. 4.Alan Walker awarded a CBE – New Dynamics of Ageing — Confirms CBE award (June 2014) for services to social science and role as NDA Programme Director
5. 5.Professor Alan Walker FBA – The British Academy — Confirms Fellowship of the British Academy and research specialism in social policy and social gerontology
6. 6.Alan Walker – Economic and Social Research Council — Confirms first ESRC Impact Champion designation (2013) and Sheffield professorship
7. 7.Contact us – University of Sheffield — Establishes University of Sheffield head office address: Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN

Notable achievements

• Named the ESRC's first Impact Champion (2013) and awarded CBE for Services to Social Science (2014) Source ↗
• Awarded Lifetime Achievement Awards by both the Social Policy Association and the British Society of Gerontology in 2007 Source ↗
• Awarded the European Association of Gerontology's first Medal and Honorary Diploma for Advances in Gerontology and Geriatrics (Social and Behavioural Sciences) in 2011 Source ↗
• Directed the £22 million New Dynamics of Ageing Research Programme funded by five UK Research Councils (2005–15) Source ↗
• Member of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Longevity's Strategic Advisory Board Source ↗
• Co-founded the Disability Alliance in 1974 Source ↗

What Alan Walker has said

• “Exclusive or predominant breastfeeding is often less prevalent, and often also occurs for a shorter length of time, in North America and Europe compared to South Asia and Africa.”

  University of Aberdeen microbiologist specialising in gastrointestinal bacteria · Children's health · 30 Sept 2026 · Gut ‘missing microbe’ in western babies raises health fears ↗

• “The In and Out of Care study pinpointed the same vulnerabilities among care leavers as this recent research, 40 years ago. The researchers recommended greater participation by young people and parents, more continuity and stability in relationships with adults, and better preparation for leaving care.”

  Emeritus professor of social policy, University of Sheffield · Adult social care & reform · 29 Sept 2026 · We must do more to save care leavers’ lives | Letters ↗

• “I wonder how encouraging alcohol consumption squares with the NHS's plans to reduce the health harms of alcohol and the government's commitment to prevent the incidence of mental health problems that result in people being unable to work. Alcohol misuse is clearly associated with a range of mental health issues, including depression and anxiety, and is a significant cause of death.”

  Emeritus professor of social policy, University of Sheffield · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Late-night pub openings aren’t in the right spirit | Letters ↗

• “The decline in healthy life expectancy (HLE) is so momentous it should have ejected the former prince from the front page. The shocking fall of three years for women and two years for men, in just three years, reveals the cumulative impact of the Tory/Liberal Democrat austerity programme and the gross mismanagement of the pandemic.”

  Emeritus professor of social policy and social gerontology, University of Sheffield · Elderly care & frailty · 27 Aug 2026 · The decline in healthy life expectancy in Britain should shock us all | Letters ↗

• “Why hadn't this newspaper made more of the latest "shocking" figures on healthy life expectancy?”

  retired professor at the University of Sheffield · Elderly care & frailty · 27 Aug 2026 · This is a life and death story for the UK – so why is it being brushed under the carpet? | Aditya Chakrabortty ↗

• “This patriarchal assumption was built into the welfare state from birth.”

  Professor of social policy and social gerontology, University of Sheffield · Adult social care & reform · 27 Aug 2026 · Social care is for us all, and we all must fund it | Letters ↗

• “The key to continued social and economic inclusion in later life is threefold: prevention of ill-health and disability; a major effort to combat age discrimination; and generous lifelong learning and reskilling provision.”

  Emeritus professor of social policy and social gerontology, University of Sheffield · Elderly care & frailty · 27 Aug 2026 · How to keep older people active in society | Letters ↗

Where Alan Walker has been quoted

1. We need a national plan to tackle the health inequity that is killing people | Letterstheguardian.com · 30 Sept 2026
2. Gut ‘missing microbe’ in western babies raises health fearsft.com · 30 Sept 2026
3. We must do more to save care leavers’ lives | Letterstheguardian.com · 29 Sept 2026
4. Late-night pub openings aren’t in the right spirit | Letterstheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
5. The decline in healthy life expectancy in Britain should shock us all | Letterstheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
6. This is a life and death story for the UK – so why is it being brushed under the carpet? | Aditya Chakraborttytheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
7. Social care is for us all, and we all must fund it | Letterstheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
8. How to keep older people active in society | Letterstheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026

Related media coverage

Recent UK press coverage of their topics — not necessarily citing them directly.

• Mental Health Foundation unveils next leaderThird Sector
• Death tax, dementia tax, no tax at all: Why England hasn’t fixed social careTheLead.uk
• Public health expert Professor Sir Michael Marmot helps launch landmark fairer health initiative in North East LincolnshireNorth East Lincolnshire Council

Contact & links

• Staff pagehttps://sheffield.ac.uk/spir/people/emeritus-honorary/alan-walker
• Websitehttps://theconversation.com/profiles/alan-walker-121282
• Websitehttps://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/fellows/profiles/alan-walker-FBA/

Organisational contact points only, each taken from a page the organisation publishes itself. No personal or direct contact details are held or shown.