Stephanie Barrientos is an Emeritus Professor in the Global Development Institute at The University of Manchester. She was previously a Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex (2000-7). 

She gained her BA and PhD in Political Economy at the University of Kent.  She has researched and published widely on gender, global production, employment, decent work, trade and labour standards, corporate social responsibility, fair trade, and ethical trade. She has undertaken research in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the UK. She coordinated the Capturing the Gains Research Programme (with Prof Gary Gereffi) from 2008-13 examining economic and social upgrading in global production networks.  

Stephanie has advised and provided training for a number of companies, NGOs and international organisations on issues concerning gender, agribusiness, ethical trade, decent work, and impact assessment, including: ActionAid, Body Shop, Cadbury Plc, CAFOD, Christian Aid, DEFRA, DFID, Gates Foundation, Green & Blacks, CAFOD, ILO, Oxfam, Nike, UNCTAD, UNIDO, World Bank,  WIEGO, Women Working Worldwide and Unite. She is on the Advisory Groups of the ILO/IFC Better Work Programme and on the Board of Trustees of the Fairtrade Foundation.

Stephanie held a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship (2013-16) examining gender and work in global value chains. This led  to publication of her book Gender and Work in Global Value Chains: Capturing the Gains? Cambridge University Press, 2019, drawing on 20 years of research in the field. She was research lead on the FCDO/DFID flagship programme ‘Work Opportunities for Women’ (WOW) 2018-21. She also led a GCRF/ESRC research programme ‘Shifting South: Decent Work in Regional Value Chains’ focused on horticulture and garments in South and East Africa (2019-2021). Stephanie has been awarded a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship (2023-2025) to work on an open access book on Fairer Trade in Global Supply Chains. 

Stephanie has researched and published widely on gender, global production, employment, decent work, trade and labour standards, corporate social responsibility, fair trade, and ethical trade. She has undertaken research in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the UK.

She coordinated a research project on Gender and Ethical Trade in African Horticulture (funded by DFID) and was the European coordinator of an international research programme on the mainstreaming of Fair Trade (funded by Ford Foundation and Leverhulme Foundation).  She coordinated the UK Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) Impact Assessment (2003-2006) with comparative studies in 5 countries and 3 sectors. She coordinated studies for Cadbury Plc Mapping Sustainable Cocoa Production in Ghana and India, which informed the formation of the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership providing UK£45M to support cocoa farmers, and their subsequent move towards Fairtrade. She co-coordinated with Professor Gary Gereffi (Duke University) of the DFID funded international research network Capturing the Gains: Economic and Social Upgrading in Global Production Networks (2008-13) that linked researchers in US, Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America (www.capturingthegains.org).