At a glance

Student: Gaëlle Confait
Degree: International Relations with Quantitative Methods
Host organisation: University of Edinburgh, School of Social and Political Science
Supervisor: Kevin Ralston
LinkedIn: Gaëlle Confait
Methods and tools: Labour Force Survey, SOC 2020 occupational classifications, descriptive statistics, statistical modelling and reproducible research

The project

Gaëlle completed a five-week summer research placement in the School of Social and Political Science, investigating occupational stratification among autistic adults in the UK labour market. The project explored whether autistic adults experience different occupational patterns, including potential underrepresentation in higher-status occupations and overrepresentation in routine or lower-status jobs.

What Gaëlle did

Gaëlle analysed the January–March 2025 Labour Force Survey dataset, which included 46,777 working-age adults. She cleaned and managed the data, constructed variables using SOC 2020 occupational classifications, produced descriptive statistics and used statistical modelling to investigate occupational patterns. She designed a reproducible analytical workflow and communicated her analysis in a final research report with visualisations.

Why the work mattered

Looking at the kinds of jobs people hold can reveal dimensions of labour-market inequality that employment rates alone may miss. Gaëlle’s project shows how national survey data can inform questions about workplace accessibility, occupational inequality and inclusion.

Skills developed

• Analysing large, nationally representative survey datasets
• Cleaning data and constructing variables
• Working with Labour Force Survey data and SOC 2020 classifications
• Descriptive statistics and statistical modelling
• Designing reproducible research workflows
• Creating visualisations and communicating findings in a research report
• Connecting quantitative evidence to policy questions

Return to Current students.