Stephen leads on academic partnerships at Roehampton. He works with colleagues to ensure the academic quality and commercial sustainability of the university’s collaborative provision in the UK and internationally. Stephen also teaches on the Politics and International Relations programme.
From 2014 to 2023, as Pro Vice-Chancellor Student Education, Stephen was a member of the University Executive Board leading on Roehampton’s education strategy, including the Teaching Excellence Framework, awarded TEF Silver for the student experience and outcomes in 2023.
Stephen studied politics at the University of Sheffield (BA 1984) and completed an MA (1986) and ESRC-funded DPhil (1990) at the University of Sussex. He was a research associate at the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies at Newcastle University (1990-91), and a lecturer in social sciences at Sussex (1991-94). Stephen joined Roehampton in 1994, and between 2010 and 2014 was head of the Department of Social Sciences responsible for all aspects of academic management.
He has written or co-written four books on British politics including New Labour (1998 and 2006) and Understanding British Party Politics (2011). In 2002 he set up the Social Research Centre at Roehampton to carry out applied research and knowledge exchange with partners including Amnesty International UK, the Church of England, JP Morgan, the London Development Agency, and several London borough councils, primary care trusts and Sure Start partnerships.