Dr Naomi Holford

My broad research interests fall within sociology, in the area of gender, sexuality and class in childhood and youth, across different age ranges from the early years to teenagers. I work with queer and feminist perspectives to explore the making of gendered/sexual subjectivities, identities and relationships, with a particular focus on relations of power, conflict and violence, in their broader institutional and social contexts. I am also interested in children and young people's rights, and their participation in research, and am a member of the Open University Children's Research Centre. I am currently working on a project about young people's fanfiction writing, wellbeing and identity, with the Open University Centre for Children and Young People's Wellbeing.  

My ESRC-funded doctoral research focused on gender and power in teenage heterosexual relationship cultures, including issues of control, coercion and abuse. I explored these in relation to middle-class 14-16 year olds' experiences and identities, with a particular interest in the intersections of class, age, gender and sexuality. I have also worked on ethnographic research exploring gender, power and conflict in young children's peer cultures (age 5-6), affiliated with the EU ALLiES project (Teachers' and Parents' Alliance for Early Violence Prevention in Preschool), funded under the DAPHNE III programme. 

My teaching expertise spans the undergradate and postgraduate curriculum in childhood and youth studies. I co-chaired the production of Exploring childhood and youth (E232), an interdisciplinary and internationally-focussed Level 2 childhood and youth studies module, which foregrounds questions of belonging, identity, place and inequality. The co-published book that accompanies this module (Cooper, V. and Holford, N. (eds) (2021) Exploring childhood and youth) is published by Routledge and examines core questions in childhood and youth studies, including children's rights, agency, and constructions of childhood and youth, taking a critical perspective highlighting some of the debates and controversies in these areas, and consisting of all newly commissioned material from leading experts and emerging researchers. I am now the module chair of E232 in presentation.

I have also been a core team membe involved in developing modules across the childhood and youth studies undergraduate programme. I worked on the introductory open-access Level 1 module, Introduction to childhood studies and child psychology (E104), a wide-ranging interdisciplinary introductory module that brings together psychological and sociological perspectives on understanding childhood and attracts around 4000 students a year. My contributions foregrounding contemporary approaches to gender in childhood and youth. I am currently working on E320 (Contemporary research with children and young people), a Level 7 FHEQ course critically examining research methodology which will be the capstone module for the Education Studies (Primary), Early Childhood, and Childhood and Youth Studies degree qualifications.

I have supervised PhD students in young children's gendered experiences in the nursery from a feminist/queer theory perspective, and asexuality and social movements, and professional doctorate students in the areas of youth mentoring, and transgender students' experiences of higher education. I welcome queries from prospective doctoral students in the areas of gender, identity and sexuality in childhood and youth.

I am co-lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the School of Education, Childhood, Youth and Sport, dedicated to supporting better outcomes for all our students and better working conditions for all our staff, with a particular interest in supporting trans and non-binary colleagues and students. I am also a committed UCU member.