Research that reaches beyond the classroom
Professor Adele Atkinson, Professor of Practice in Financial Literacy and Wellbeing at the University of Birmingham, visited CMU during Research Week to share insights on the relationship between academic research, financial wellbeing, and public policy.
During Research Week, CMU welcomed Dr. Adele Atkinson, who brought decades of experience in financial literacy, research, and public policy.
Her visit was an opportunity for the CMU community to hear from a researcher whose work has moved among universities, international organizations, and policy discussions around the world.
Atkinson presented "Building Bridges Between Academia and Policy: Insights from the Field of Financial Literacy and Wellbeing," a talk focused on the relationship between research and the people who use it to inform decisions.
A Professor of Practice in Financial Literacy and Wellbeing at the University of Birmingham, Atkinson has spent her career examining how people manage their finances and how financial systems can better support them.
"I increasingly seem to focus on vulnerability and people who perhaps have been let down by the system; [individuals who are] financially excluded or they're struggling to make the system work for them," Atkinson says.
After beginning her career in economics of education, she later became involved in research on financial literacy, financial capability, and how people manage their money.
She later spent 10 years working with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an international organization that works to build better policies for better lives.
Today, her research increasingly focuses on financial vulnerability and exclusion, including the experiences of people who face barriers within financial systems.
Her connection to CMU comes through Jerry Buckland, Vice-President Academic; Dean of Research and Programs; Professor of Economics and of International Development Studies, whose research on financial exclusion has intersected with Atkinson's work in financial literacy.
The two first collaborated during Buckland's sabbatical at the University of Birmingham, where they explored how numeracy influences people's ability to manage their finances.
"What was unique about Jerry's work is the diaries," Atkinson says, referring to Buckland's financial diaries research, a journal participants used to help Buckland and other researchers gain an understanding of how financially vulnerable individuals face their situations and recover.
"That was something that was so rich that we just had nothing similar."
Buckland said their collaboration brought together two perspectives that often approach financial wellbeing from different directions.
"We're kind of looking at the same thing but from different perspectives," he said. "It was really a good opportunity to bring the financial literacy and the financial exclusion perspective together."
As members of the OECD's International Network on Financial Education Research Advisory Group, both Buckland and Atkinson work to measure financial literacy and evaluate the impact of financial literacy programs.
For Atkinson, the purpose of research has always been connected to its ability to create change beyond academia.
"What motivates me is to be able to make a difference in the real world. And for me, I can't do that directly, but policymakers often can."
"I don't believe that academics have a role in lobbying," she says. Rather, to Atkinson, research describes circumstances, not solutions.
Understanding financial exclusion, for example, requires looking beyond individual knowledge and skills to the systems that influence and limit people's opportunities.
While financial education can be part of the solution, Atkinson said it is not the only answer.
"Financial well-being needs to go beyond the relationship with financial service providers... They need to involve different parts of the community because you see that financial well-being is influenced by the people around you, the relationships that you have, the environment that you're in. Your community is really important."
During her time at CMU, Atkinson says she was impressed by the interdisciplinary conversations that took place during her visit.
"I really enjoyed being at CMU," she said. "The diversity of staff in terms of what they're studying and how they're seeing the world was really refreshing to me."
"To be in a room where I've got people that are working in music and anthropology and agriculture, that for me is incredibly refreshing," she said. "I felt not just welcome but included."
At CMU, those conversations extended beyond a single lecture. Atkinson's visit highlighted how collaboration across disciplines can deepen research, broaden perspectives, and strengthen its potential to contribute to communities well beyond the classroom.