Stephen Morris

Manchester Metropolitan University

Stephen is Professor of Evaluation in the Policy Evaluation and Research Unit at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU). He brings over thirty years’ experience in policy evaluation, having previously held senior research and analytical posts at the Institute for Employment Studies, the UK Government, and the National Centre for Social Research before joining MMU in 2016.

Stephen is a leading expert in impact evaluation, with particular strengths in randomised controlled trials and quasi experimental methods. He was a pioneer in the introduction and use of randomised trials for policy and programme evaluation, outside health and clinical research, in the UK and authored the first editions of the UK Government’s official guidance on impact evaluation, The Magenta Book.

His current research focuses primarily on education, especially the evaluation of teaching interventions aimed at improving reading attainment in English primary schools. His wider research interests include methods for handling missing data in randomised trials and the application of machine learning techniques to estimate intervention effects at the individual, rather than average, level.

Stephen teaches impact evaluation on MMU’s MSc in Evaluation and Policy Analysis and delivers a range of highly regarded continuing professional development courses for practitioners.