Biography

My degree in English Language and Literature at the University of Manchester, followed by a Masters in Children’s Literature and Illustration, fostered my interested in children’s books, fairy tales, and literacy. Having qualified as a teacher in 2006, I worked in an inner city school in London for two years, where I became increasingly interested in children and reading at school.  I gained an ESRC 1+3 funded Studentship for a Masters in Social Research Methods, and a PhD in Sociology, at the University of Surrey to develop these interests. Through my doctoral research on children, reading and identity, I explored issues around picture books at school, children’s identity work, and research with children using participative methods.  I also worked as a graduate tutor in the Sociology department at the University of Surrey, and as a research assistant on a project on the Sociology of the arts. I successfully completed my PhD in June 2013.  In my role as Senior Lecturer in Childhood Studies at Portsmouth, which I have held since 2014, I teach on research methods with children, theorising children's voices and Children's Literature. Current research interests focus upon different ways to account for and amplify children's voices in matters which affect their lives, with a particular interest in children's sleep and the views of the very young about how their sleep is managed in their homes. 

Research interests

• Developing methods to engage the voices of very young children (under 5s)
• Children's sleep and how it is managed in families with very young children
• Exploring tools to support 'biologically normal' sleep in families with young children- meeting children at their point of need