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The Research Team

young fathers1Baseline Study Team (2010 - 2012) 

  • Bren Neale (Director)
  • Carmen Lau Clayton (Research Fellow)
  • Admin: Jamie Knipe.

Follow up Study Team (2012-15)

  • Carmen Lau Clayton (Co-Director, Liaison with key Practice Partners, Liaison with ESRC (as principle investigator), Budget Management, Fieldwork with Young Fathers);
  • Bren Neale (Co-Director, Study Co-ordinator, Publications Strategy);
  • Laura Davies (Research Officer, Practitioner Fieldwork);
  • Linzi Ladlow (Research Assistant, Dataset Coding/Analysis/Archiving, ‘Custody’ fieldwork);
  • Ruth Patrick (Secondary Analyst, Transitions into Fatherhood);
  • Admin: Jennie Hall and Jamie Knipe.

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Lead Researchers' Biographies

carmen-lau-claytonCarmen Lau-Clayton

Carmen co-directed the Following Young Fathers Study from 2012-15. Prior to this she was a Research Fellow for the Timescapes Young Lives and Times project, from which the baseline study for Following Young Fathers originated. She is also a Senior Lecturer in Child and Family Welfare Studies at Leeds Trinity University and teaches across a number of undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses. E mail C.Clayton@leedstrinity.ac.uk

bren-nealeBren Neale

Bren directed the Following Young Fathers Study from 2010-12, and co-directed the study from 2012-15. She is Professor of Life course and Family Research in the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Leeds, and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. She is a founding member of the journal Families, Relationships and Societies, and (from January 2016) chair of the journal Management Board. Bren specialises in research on the dynamics of family life and intergenerational relationships and has published widely in this field. As Director of the ESRC funded Timescapes Initiative, from 2007 to 2012, Bren set up the Timescapes Archive and supported the development of Qualitative Longitudinal Research Methods across academia and in Government and NGO settings. She developed the Following young Fathers study under Timescapes (2010-12) and, with Carmen, secured funding from the Economic and Social Research Council to continue the study through to October 2015.  E mail: b.neale@leeds.ac.uk