JULIA BRANNEN

Julia Brannen is Professor of Sociology of the Family in the Institute of Education, University of London and Adjunct Professor at the University of Bergen, Norway. Based in the Institute’s Thomas Coram Research Unit, her research  focuses on parents, young people and children in both Britain and Europe and intergenerational relations. She has a particular interest in the relation between paid work and family life. Recent books include; Connecting Children: Care and Family Life in Later Childhood (Falmer 2000); Young Europeans, Work and Family: Futures in transition (2002 Routledge); Re-thinking Children’s Care (Open University Press 2003); Working and Caring over the Twentieth Century: Change and continuity in four-generation families (Palgave Macmillan 2004); Coming to Care: The work and family lives of workers caring for vulnerable children (policy 2007).

Methodology is a particular interest and many of her studies have combined qualitative with quantitative methods. She has written on methodological issues including a text on mixing methods (Mixing Methods: Qualitative and quantitative research 1992 Gower; The Handbook of Social Research (Sage in press 2008)) and is a contributor on this topic to Seale et al (Qualitative Research in Practice 2004 Sage) and to several forthcoming books on mixed methods. Her interests also extend to biographical research methods and comparative cross national methods. She is a co-founder and co-editor of the International Journal of Social Research Methodology: Theory and practice (Website: www.tandf.co.uk)

Currently she is a member of the Research Resources Board of ESRC and the advisory committee of ESRC National Research Centre and of the Research Methods Programme.