Elizabeth DeYoung, PhD

Dr. Elizabeth DeYoung is a Research Scientist at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Guaranteed Income Research, where she uses qualitative and mixed-methods to evaluate the effects of guaranteed income (GI) pilots in cities across the US. Dr. DeYoung is Principal Investigator for the Center’s social network analysis of rural GI pilots. She also leads the Center’s ‘Time to Care’ study, exploring the impact of unconditional cash on unpaid caregivers. A trained ethnographer, her research draws upon place-based, community-level insights in order to inform policy and narrative change.

Dr. DeYoung has authored several reports from the Center’s American Guaranteed Income Studies (AmGIS) as well as numerous policy briefs and peer-reviewed articles. Her first book, Power, Politics and Territory in the New Northern Ireland (2023) received the 2024 Murphy Prize for Distinguished First Book by the American Conference for Irish Studies.

Prior to her appointment at the Center, Dr. DeYoung was awarded a Mellon/ACLS Public Fellowship, a national postdoctoral program for PhDs working in the applied research sphere. As a Public Fellow at Reinvestment Fund in Philadelphia, her research initiatives straddled multiple social policy domains, including housing security and community wellbeing.

Dr. DeYoung earned a PhD at the Institute of Irish Studies, University of Liverpool. Her doctoral work, a community-based ethnography, examined politics, planning and peacebuilding in post-conflict Northern Ireland. Dr. DeYoung also received an MA in Irish Studies from Queen University Belfast and a BA magna cum laude in International Affairs and Modern Languages from Northeastern University.