Conor Cradden Labour & Business Policy Research
	Conor Cradden was born in the London suburb of Gravesend to Northern Irish parents. He returned to Northern Ireland with his family at the age of two, and was brought up near Belfast. He studied philosophy, politics and economics at Wadham College, Oxford. After taking his first degree in 1988 he stayed on in Oxford to work in the newly-established University Development (fundraising) Office. During this time he became active in the Association of Univerisity Teachers (AUT). He moved to London in 1991 to work for Scope (at that stage still known as The Spastics Society), an NGO providing services for people with disabilities. Having joined the Manufacturing Science and Finance union, he became involved in attempts to gain union recognition in Scope. His interest in union activity and work organization led him to begin a part-time MSc in industrial relations at the London School of Economics. In 1993, he took up a post in the research department of the AUT, and in 1994 he was appointed head of research. While working for the AUT, he became branch secretary of his new union, the Transport and General Workers. In 1997 he left the UK to study for a PhD at the European University Institute in Florence. Since 2001 he has been living in France. He completed his PhD in 2004, and now works as an independent researcher. You can find a pdf version of Conor Cradden's CV here.