Our Team
Newcastle University
Professor Janice McLaughlin (Project Lead) She/Her
I’m Janice, I’m a social researcher who has been working for a long time on the different issues that disabled children and young people and their families experience. I think it is really important to recognise the barriers and challenges disabled children and young people face, but also how they are active in shaping their lives. Disabled children and young people should have their right to be involved in society and in decisions about their lives recognised. The work I have done always involves working with groups that support and advocate for disabled children and young people to help check the work is done right and is useful. I live by the sea near Alnmouth with my partner Katie and enjoy gardening and photography.
Professor Tracy Shildrick (Project Co-Lead) She/Her
I’m Tracy and my research has a focus on young people and some of the difficulties young people can face when growing up in families on low incomes or in areas that lack opportunities. A lot of my work is directed towards challenging myths about young people, for example that they lack aspirations or that they do not want to work hard or look for jobs. I have a strong commitment to the North East region but have also undertaken research in Glasgow. I live in North Yorkshire and outside of work I like to spend time dog walking, visiting new places and cooking and knitting.
Dr Katie Salmon (Project fieldwork Research Associate) She/Her
I’m Katie and I’m a social and cultural researcher from Newcastle, with a background in community work, teaching and educational publishing. I will be working in close collaboration with the disabled young advisors and participants to support and develop the project fieldwork discussions and activities that will take place in Newcastle and its surrounding areas. I will ensure that participants have a safe, supportive and accessible space in which to share their experiences. I live in Newcastle, but I enjoy visiting the Northumberland coast and countryside at weekends. I also love learning languages and travelling.
Email - katherine.salmon@ncl.ac.uk
Phone - 07552 008 870 or 0191 208 0225
Amanda Bailey (Knowledge Exchange Research Associate) She/Her
I’m Amanda and I have worked in various policy and communications roles in the North East of England and London for just over 20 years. I will be working with the project’s research team and advisory group to understand the findings of this work and to ensure they are shared with the right policy and decisionmakers in local, regional and national organisations so that this project results in positive changes in policy and practice. I live in Newcastle with my husband, two children, a baby tortoise and a very old goldfish (age 11). In my spare time, I enjoy reading, playing in a steel band, walking across the North East and following Middlesbrough Football Club.
Glasgow University
Dr Charlotte Pearson (Project Lead in Glasgow) She/Her
I’m Charlotte and I’m also a social researcher. I’m interested in issues relating how disabled adults and young people are supported and the barriers they face in their day-to-day lives. In particular, my research focuses on social care and how policies encourage or prevent disabled people from living more independent lives. Recently, I've completed work which examined the impact of the pandemic on the lives of disabled people. I live in Glasgow with my partner and two daughters. In my spare time, I enjoy running (slowly!), cooking nice food and chasing after our badly behaved spaniel.
Professor Nick Watson (Project Co-Lead) He/Him
I am Nick and I have worked for over thirty years in disability research. Over that time I have worked on a lot of different projects including exploring what life is like as a disabled child, the barriers disabled people face as they go about their every day lives and the way that disability is talked about and represented in culture. I am also interested in disability history and in particular the history of the wheelchair. I am a disabled person and I sit on the board of Glasgow Disability Alliance. I live in the southside of Glasgow with my wife, my daughter when she is not at university and a very old standard poodle called Dougal.
Dr Jane Cullingworth (Project fieldwork Research Associate) She/Her
I’m Jane and I’ve spent most of my life working in the third sector with charities and community groups in a range of roles from front-line to management. In recent years I have shifted my focus to research, looking at the challenges that come about when the third sector and the government work closely together, the experiences of disabled people during Covid, and issues for children and young people living in areas of high poverty. I will be playing the same role as Katie in the project, but my work will be with people in Glasgow and surrounding areas. I live in Glasgow with my partner and our very old cat, Felix.
Email - jane.cullingworth@glasgow.ac.uk
Phone - 07405 767 464
York University
Dr Edmund Coleman-Fountain (Project Co-Lead) He/Him
My name is Ned (it’s a short version of Edmund) and I teach sociology at York University. I worked and studied at Newcastle University some time ago and I guess I’m still hanging around. I do research on disability and young people, but also on sexuality, gender, and social care. My work is really about being inclusive and helpful to people who don’t always feel included or recognised.
Voices of Lived Experience Network (VOLE)
We have a network of disabled young people from Glasgow and North East England who are inputting across the lifetime of the project.
Ethan
Where are you from?
I’m from a small ex-mining village in county durham called Thornley
How old are you?
17
How/why did you get involved in the project?
I was approached by Katie Salmon and Janice Mclaughlin and took a great interest in their ideas. The voices of disabled young people often fall on deaf ears. It is my duty as an egalitarian and a marxist to ensure that the voices of the oppressed are heard and acted upon.
Why do you think the research is important?
The youth of today are an undeniably undervalued class, they have inherited a society on the verge of crisis. I think a society’s ability to care for its vulnerable or needing members is a good reflection of its morals and its adequacy in ensuring those within are valued. Disabled young people are reliant upon state services, private services and their immediate social influences to meet their needs. Whether it meets these needs or not should serve as a good indication as to the society’s capacity for compassion in general. The data gathered from this research will ideally inform us of a perspective seldom heard. With this, we can hopefully inform the decisions society makes in the future regarding the journey into adulthood.
What do you hope the research will achieve?
What the research undoubtedly will achieve is giving some insight into the perspective of disabled young people preparing for adulthood. Though this is useful information, in and of itself, it serves a purely academic purpose. That is, unless that information is used to make the lives of those in question better. In short, I wish to see this information utilised by local authority (eventually perhaps even nationally) to implement changes to a system that feels like a minefield of legislative, social and political obstacles.
What themes are you interested to explore in the research?
I’m interested to see how a number of complex ideas such as identity, family relations and ambition (to name a few) intersect to create a network of boons and pitfalls to navigate. Essentially, the acute dynamics of oppression and the uphill battle that is being an “adult.”
Jaide
Where are you from?
I'm from a little village in County Durham.
How old are you?
I'm 22 years old
How/why did you get involved in the project?
I got to know about this Project through an organisation called Investing In Children which is a children's rights organisation.
Why do you think the research is important?
To help shape support for getting into adulthood better. It’s important we are involved because we have lived experience.
What do you hope the research will achieve?
To feel less alone and to know a little bit more about adulthood.
What themes are you interested to explore in the research?
The themes I am most passionate about is health, education, social life and the most important one to me right now is employment.
What are your life goals? How does being involved in the project help advance your goals?
I would love to write a book about my experience in life I would like to be a disabled influencer and advocate because I follow a lot of people on YouTube.
What do you hope to learn from the research?
It will help me in another group that I'm in with Investing In Children it will help me to teach the younger generation of Investing in Children to learn how to do research.
I would love to help write out the report of the findings of the research and I would love to see the data of the findings from the research.
What are your hobbies?
I love cooking and baking and I love to travel. My favourite thing to cook is pizza l, my favourite thing to bake is scones and my favourite place to travel to is Walt Disney World Florida.
What did you want to be when you are older?
I wanted to become a chef because I love food. However when I was in year 11 when I was doing food technology I found it hard physically and mentally. Also in College I didn't have a good response to it. When we went to open day the tutor said I couldn't get any support with the practical side of the course.
More VOLE bios coming soon!
Project Advisory Group
A number of organisations in Glasgow and North East England have worked with us in developing the project and continue to be key partners in the project.
Project Advisory Chair
Our advisory group is chaired by Vici Richardson, who is CEO of Disability North.