Team
Project Leaders
Charlotte Faircloth
Professor of Family and Society at the UCL Social Research Institute leads the BAM50 project. She is a key contributor to Parenting Culture Studies, a ground-breaking inter-disciplinary field that situates 'parenting' as a key topic for understanding contemporary society. Her anthropological research, focusing on reproduction and parenting, has covered topics including infant feeding, couple relationships, inter-generational relations, and most recently, the impact of coronavirus on family life.
Ann Oakley
Professor of Sociology and Social Policy, is one of the most influential sociologists of post-war Britain, and Co-Project Leader on BAM50. She carried out the first BAM study – the platform for this current project – and can be credited with establishing motherhood as a subject (and now a well-founded field) of social research. Over the course of a long and highly distinguished research career, she has developed expertise in a wide range of research methodologies, publishing widely in the field of methodology. The ESRC recognized her Housework study as ‘landmark’ during its 50th-anniversary celebrations (Oliver 2023).
Meg Wiggins
Senior Research Officer and Lecturer in Social Policy at the UCL Social Research Institute, and Co-Project Leader of BAM50. She brings over 20 years of experience in leading large and small-scale evaluations in health and education, and has worked closely with Ann Oakley in previous phases of the BAM studies. Her expertise has been instrumental in designing rigorous and impactful interventions in health research around reproduction and parenting.
Researchers
Kate Errington
An interdisciplinary researcher with a background in Medical and Health Humanities. Her PhD at Birkbeck, University of London, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, investigated public communication and understandings of risk during pregnancy, 1948-present. Alongside this research, Kate co-founded the Broadly Conceived research network for scholars interested in reproduction. Prior to joining the BAM50 project, Kate worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Blizard Institute at Queen Mary University of London, delivering public engagement work about maternal vaccination.
Sasha Lawson
PhD Researcher at the UCL Social Research Institute, funded by the prestigious Bloomsbury Colleges Studentship. Currently completing an MA in History at UCL, focusing on women in Britain since the 1970’s, Sasha is proud to be continuing her research trajectory as part of the BAM50 project. Sasha’s research interests include women’s reproductive rights, the politics of women’s health and the social history of parenting. Her work on the BAM50 project will examine maternal identity in an era of involved fathers, tracing fifty years of changing parenting culture in the UK.
Student Interns
Abigail Woolley
A final year UCL BSc Sociology student who has supported the team with preliminary research into changing parenting culture, specifically the changing role of fathers.
Latina Li
A final year UCL BSc Social Sciences student who has supported the team with preliminary research into changing parenting culture, specifically around changing practices of infant feeding.
Advisory Group
Susan Barry (Consultant Midwife, Imperial College Healthcare Trust)
Alex Bollen (NCT/Ipsos Mori/Author of ‘Motherload’)
Baroness Boycott (HoL, Founder Spare Rib)
Kate Brintworth (Chief Midwifery Officer, NHS England)
Sabrina Das (Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Imperial College Healthcare Trust)
Rhiannon Evans (Mumsnet/Gransnet)
Dr Jenny Hall (UCL, Institute for Women’s Health, Co-director Reproductive Health, Policy Research Unit)
Dr Patricia Hamilton (U York, Sociology)
Dr Lisa Hinton (U Oxford, Primary Health)
Lydia Hodges (CEO Coram Family and Childcare)
Prof Ellie Lee (U Kent, Director Centre for Parenting Culture Studies)
Prof Tina Miller (Oxford Brookes, Sociology
Elizabeth Prochaska (Founder Birth Rights)
Sara Reis (Women’s Budget Group UK)
Monica Sherry (Institute for Health Visiting)
Anthony Silverstone (Retired Obstetrician, UCLH)
Prof Anna Tarrant (U Lincoln, Sociology)
Harriet Walker (The Times)