Grace joined the Centre for Care in April 2022 as a Research Associate working on Digital Care with Professor Kate Hamblin. Their projects focus on digital inequalities, the impact of sectoral fragmentation on technology implementation, and the nature of care labour processes. Previously, Grace taught topics of industrial relations and employment in Sheffield University Management School. Her PhD – also at the Management School – was funded through an ESRC 1+3 grant and examined trade unionism in England’s social care sector. While studying, Grace also attended London Critical Theory School, and prior to her PhD she undertook an MA in Social Research at Sheffield and an MSc in Social Theory. Grace has also worked on projects on youth unemployment and ‘fire and rehire’ practices, and has previously worked as an employment law Adviser at Acas and as a care worker.
Research interests
- Digital exclusion and effects of digitalisation on forms of care labour.
- State policy on care provision and employment regulation.
- Trade union strategies within the social care sector and theorisations of unionism.
- Labour theory of value and analyses of capital.
Publications
- Whitfield, G., Wright, J., & Hamblin, K. (2024). AI in care: a solution to the ‘care crisis’ in England?. In Handbook on Public Policy and Artificial Intelligence (pp. 383-396). Edward Elgar Publishing.
- Whitfield, G. J. (2024). Robots Won’t Save Japan: An Ethnography of Eldercare Automation by James Wright (2023). International Journal of Care and Caring, 1(aop), 1-2.
- Whitfield, G. and Hamblin, K. (2023) Technology and social care: key areas of policy focus in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (2019-2022). Centre for Care Working Paper 3, CIRCLE, Sheffield: University of Sheffield.
- Allard, C., Whitfield, G J. (2023). “Guilt, Care, and the Ideal Worker: Comparing Guilt Among Working Carers and Care Workers.” Gender, Work & Organization: 1– 17.
- Whitfield, G., Hamblin, K. (2022) Technology in social care: review of the UK policy landscape. Centre for Care Working Paper 1, CIRCLE, Sheffield: University of Sheffield
- Whitfield, G.J., 2021. ‘You couldn’t have a heart and want to strike’: Mobilising workers in England’s social care sector. Capital & Class.
- Whitfield, G.J., 2021. Book Review: The Hospital: Life, Death, and Dollars in a Small American Town, by Brian Alexander. ILR Review.
- Whitfield, G.J., 2020. Book Review: Cabin Crew Conflict: The British Airways Dispute 2009–11, by Phil Taylor and Sian Moore. British Journal of Industrial Relations.