Completed projects

Young men, masculinity and wellbeing

A focus group study with young men in England, exploring the impact of social expectations around ‘being a man’ on wellbeing (2016-17). Part of a three-country study in the UK, US and Mexico in partnership with Promundo, funded by Axe-Unilever. Principal investigator: Martin Robb.

Beyond male role models: gender identities and practices in work with young men

A study exploring the role of gender in work with young men using social care services in Scotland, Wales and England, in collaboration with Action for Children (2013-15). Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (Grant No.: ES/K005863). Principal investigator: Martin Robb.

Young people’s representations of conflicting roles in child development

A project funded by the ESRC (2004-2006) that explored the construction of childhood through examining children’s engagement in normative and non normative activities including paid/unpaid work, domestic work such as being a young carer and being a language broker. The project was positioned and informed by critical developmental psychology and sociocultural theory.

Principle Investigator: Lindsay O’Dell, Co-Investigators: Guida de Abreu (Oxford Brookes) and Tony Cline (UCL). Research Fellow: Sarah Crafter

Developing children’s palliative care services: lessons from the Children’s Palliative Care Programme in Ireland

This project was an evaluation of the Children’s Palliative Care Programme (CPCP), a major initiative implemented in the Republic of Ireland. As per its set objectives, the evaluation produced recommendations for national policy and service development. In addition, the team is currently using the evidence derived from the evaluation to consider, more broadly, how children’s services can be developed in ways that meet expert standards. In the future, it is envisaged that the same evidence will guide research and service development to address identified gaps in provision. 

Co-investigator: Joanne Jordan

Childhoods past and childhoods present: Risk, reminiscence and contemporary outdoor play

A small project that drew on contributions from students from an Open University module ‘working with children, young people and families’. Students gave permission for the project team to analyse their online forum discussions about children’s freedom to play outdoors- contrasting contemporary children with students’ recollections of their childhoods.

Co-researchers: Andy Rixon, Lindsay O’Dell and Helen Lomax (University of Huddersfield)

Women’s narratives of living with ADHD

The project was a small-scale interview based qualitative study designed to explore the experiences and sense-making of adult women who have been either formally diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), or self-diagnosed. The research aimed to examine women’s experiences of ADHD (including their experiences of formal diagnosis and self-diagnosis), and to explore how they perceive ADHD to have impacted on their childhood, on their transition to adulthood, and on their sense of identity.

Principle Investigator: Lindsay O’Dell, co-investigators: Paul Stenner, Mary Horton Salway and Alison Davies. Funder British Academy/Leverhulme Trust.