Stephen Drinkwater is a Professor of Economics at the University of Roehampton, London. He had previously studied at the University of Wales Swansea and held research fellowships at Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Portsmouth. He then lectured at the University of Surrey and Swansea University, where he was a reader in Economics. His main research interest is in applied labour economics, focusing in particular on discrimination against ethnic minorities, international and interregional migration and the effect of language on economic activity. He has published some of this research in journals such as Economics Letters, Economica, Journal of Population Economics, Journal of Regional Science, Labour Economics, Manchester School, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Public Choice, Regional Studies, Scottish Journal of Political Economy and Urban Studies.

He joined IZA as a Research Fellow in February 2004.