I am an experienced participatory researcher-activist with expertise in social justice. My specialisms are in poverty; social exclusion; childhood, youth and families; participatory methods; and mixed methods research.
I believe that working in partnership with diverse people and organisations, and prioritising the perspectives of those directly impacted by social issues, offer the most powerful opportunities for genuine societal change. I am interested in structural and relational approaches to understanding the social world and deconstructing oppressive structures and practices, rooted in experiential expertise and community action.
I started my career in the voluntary sector, running a grassroots charity supporting women who had experienced childhood sexual abuse. I then went on to study for a Masters of Research and PhD in social policy, focusing on child poverty and how to incorporate children’s and families’ perspectives on living in poverty into how we understand, measure and address it. I have worked at the University of York and the University of Leeds, and was Professor of Childhood, Youth and Social Justice at the University of Leeds until February 2023, when I set up the Social Research Collective.
Read about some of the projects I’ve been involved in.