Helen researches and critiques the construction of long-term unemployment. Her research has explored the historical construction of the employment-unemployment binary and unemployment stigma in the North East of England. She is particularly interested in the relation between time spent unemployed and gender. Her work has included a critical perspective on the inclusion of unemployed people, as well as recommendations to research and practice on reducing the gendered impacts of unemployment. Her background working in social housing, unemployment projects and training for unemployed people underpins this work. Helen is currently researching libraries as third spaces where unemployed people can be supported to explore their identity in terms other than unemployment and seek social inclusion and welfare rights.