• Adolescent and Youth Employment, Skills Development in Work, Child Employment Policy and Practice, Regulation of Children’s Work, Quality of Work, Investigation of Individual Perception and Experience(s), Adolescent Development and Transitions, Children in Entertainment.
• Observation, Interview, Event Recording, Content Analysis, Reliability.
• Developmental Psychology, Psychology applied to work.

Currently Writing:

• Young People at Work: Understanding what they do. (Working Title: Academic paper, Education & Training).
• Child Employment Legislation in Scotland: Local Authority Policy & Practice. (Working Title: Academic paper, TBC).

Currently Researching:

• A High-Impact Community-based Lifelong Learning Experience in Sustainable Management for Historic Built Assets. (UWS Crucible - Simposn, A., Bowry, M. & Bae, J.)
• Exploring the experiences of new teaching and learning workspaces. (Douglas-Smith, N., Simpson, A., Kaparounaki, K. & Sidhva, D.)

Selected papers:

Simpson, A., McKechnie, J. & Hobbs (2018). Learning in work: perceptions from working teenagers. Journal of Education and Work [online] DOI: 10.1080/13639080.2018.1479840

McKechnie, J., Hobbs, S. Littler, E. & Simpson, A. (2017) Finding a better way of protecting young workers. Youth & Policy. 116, 167-180.

Hobbs, S., McKechnie, J., & Simpson, A. (2016). The economic exploitation of child workers in the United Kingdom. Childhood, 24(1), 36-50.  DOI: 10.1177/0907568216648665.

Hobbs, S., McKechnie, J., & Simpson, A. (2016). The Risks Faced by Adolescent Workers in the United Kingdom. Young, 24(1), 53-65.  DOI: 10.1177/1103308815613685.

Simpson, A., Moffett, J., and Allan, G. (2016).  What Scotland’s future workforce think about ‘Decent Work’.  Decent Work in Scotland: Thematic Report 1.  UWS-Oxfam Partnership.  Paisley: University of the West of Scotland.

McKechnie, J., Hobbs, S., and Simpson, A. (2016, 31 May – 3 June). Living in Two Worlds: school students and the work-education relationship. Paper Presented at the Comparative Education Society in Europe (CESE) Conference, Glasgow, Scotland.

McKechnie, J., Hobbs, S., and Simpson, A. (2016, 22-24 June). Action and inaction regarding child employment in Britain: payment and policy. Paper Presented at the Children and Young People in a Changing World: Action, Agency and Participation Conference, Liverpool, England.

Areas of interest for development:

• The development of social skills in/via work.
• Investigation of adult workers in Retail and Catering industries: observation of work activities/development of observation schedule for examination of activity in work.
• Perceptions of decent work/work quality.
• The social/psychological impact of participation in community archaeology/regeneration projects.

Workers Unions, Youth organisations, Youth Employment and Entertainment Organisations, Secondary schools, Primary schools, Careers and Employability organisations, Local Authorities, Government and Government Agencies, Children and Young People’s Commissioners, Fair Work Convention, International Labour Organisation, NGO’s, Third Sector Organisations, Charities, Businesses.