The project team includes researchers from the Universities of Middlesex, Manchester and Leeds, as well as the charities Working Families and the Fatherhood Institute. It brings together expertise in the field of work and parenthood, covering multiple disciplines, including organisation studies, employment relations, social policy, sociology and economics, along with the experience of transdisciplinary research as well as working in partnership with policymakers and/or practitioners.
Dr Bianca Stumbitz, Principal Investigator
https://www.mdx.ac.uk/about-us/our-people/staff-directory/dr-bianca-stumbitz/
Bianca is a Senior Research Fellow at Middlesex University Business School. Her research explores workplace support for expectant and new parents with a particular focus on small and medium-sized workplaces. Bianca is passionate about achieving change in policy and practice and, as part of her work, she has been advising employers, trade unions, government departments, international organisations and NGOs.
Bianca has two teenage children, takes care of her elderly mother and recharges her batteries during long walks with her dog in the countryside.
Dr Amy Burnett, Research Fellow
https://www.mdx.ac.uk/about-us/our-people/staff-directory/dr-amy-burnett/
Amy is a Research Fellow in Inclusive and Sustainable Enterprise at Middlesex University Business School. Amy brings extensive experience from the international development and planning sectors, having worked with non-profit organisations, local government and community groups across Southern Africa, Brazil and the UK. Amy is currently a Fellow at the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP) and previously was a British Academy Policy Innovation Fellow based at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport where she examined approaches to value the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector.
Amy’s interest in this research stems from her commitment to understanding how policy can better support inclusive workplace practices and purposeful engagement through appropriate governance and co-design processes over the life course and how human cycles relate to organisational ones and wider phenomena. As an artist and musician, Amy understands the challenges of retaining creative pursuits while performing multiple roles and how ‘being creative’ is vital to support empowerment, autonomy and purpose throughout the lifecourse, especially for those navigating the transition to parenthood.
Dr Bastien Chabé-Ferret, Co-investigator
https://www.mdx.ac.uk/about-us/our-people/staff-directory/dr-bastien-chabe-ferret
Bastien is a senior lecturer in Economics at Middlesex University. His research leverages survey and census data along with economic experiments to explore how social norms interact with public policies to shape behaviour. Bastien has so far inquired about fertility, breastfeeding, parental leave, migration, education and suicide.
Outside of work, Bastien spends time with his partner, two step-children, a cat and two guinea pigs. He also recently started a BA in Film.
Dr Tim Freeman, Co-investigator
https://www.mdx.ac.uk/about-us/our-people/staff-directory/dr-tim-freeman/
Tim Freeman is Professor of Leadership at Middlesex University Business School. His research interests include evaluations of health service interventions globally, with a particular interest in impact evaluation.
Outside of work, he is father to a son undertaking postgraduate study. Tim has a keen passion for the outdoors – including walking, climbing and swimming.
Dr Ericka Rascon-Ramirez, Co-investigator
https://www.mdx.ac.uk/about-us/our-people/staff-directory/dr-ericka-rascon-ramirez/
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Dr Clarice Santos, Co-investigator
https://www.mdx.ac.uk/about-us/our-people/staff-directory/dr-clarice-santos/
Dr. Clarice Santos is a Senior Lecturer in Transdisciplinary Practice, Leadership & Workforce Management at Middlesex University in London. Her research interests cover a broad range of topics, but she is particularly passionate about diversity and inclusion, the work-life interface, and gender issues in the workplace and beyond. Clarice is Associate Editor of the Community, Work & Family Journal and a member of the UNESCO Chair for Responsible Foresight for Sustainable Development. Originally from Brazil, her professional journey in academia and industry has taken her across cultures and contexts. Her current work focuses on developing transdisciplinary approaches to co-create more inclusive futures, with a particular commitment to championing women and supporting early-career researchers.
Prof Suzan Lewis, Co-investigator
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Prof Emma Banister, Co-investigator
Emma Banister is Professor of Consumption and Society at the University of Manchester. Her research explores the transition to motherhood and fatherhood, and how parents navigate the balance between work and home life, with a particular interest in how policy can support this.
Outside of work, Emma is a mum to two teenagers and enjoys running, walking her dog, and spending time outdoors. She values staying active and social, making time for family and friends, and believes that meaningful work should support a healthy work–life balance.
Dr Helen Norman, Co-investigator
https://business.leeds.ac.uk/faculty/staff/1010/dr-helen-norman
Helen Norman is an Associate Professor at the University of Leeds. Her research focuses on gender inequalities in work, employment and care, with a particular interest in fathers and fatherhood. She has led projects on what influences fathers’ involvement in childcare and housework, and what implications fathers’ childcare involvement has for children’s educational development.
Helen has a 7-year-old daughter and enjoys keeping fit and spending time with family and friends.
Dr Jeremy Davies, Co-investigator
http://www.fatherhoodinstitute.org/about-the-fatherhood-institute/the-fatherhood-institute-team/
Dr Jeremy Davies is Deputy CEO and Head of Impact & Communications at the Fatherhood Institute – a UK charity which works to build a society that values, prepares, and supports men as involved fathers and caregivers. His work involves advocating for father-inclusive policy, research and family interventions, through campaigns such as 6 weeks for dads; leading funded evaluations of practitioner training and family interventions; and impact partnerships with universities. Securing a more supportive context for his 25-year-old son if he were to become a father is a key motivation behind Jeremy’s work.
Simon Kelleher, Co-investigator
Simon Kelleher is Head of Policy and Influencing at Working Families, the UK’s national charity for working parents and carers. He ensures that insights from the charity’s legal advice service and its work with employers shape and inform government policy. Key aspects of his role include promoting the charity’s Family Friendly Workplaces certification and acting as secretariat for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Flexible and Family Friendly Working. In 2025, Simon coordinated a joint letter signed by 16 academics and 22 organisations calling on the government to undertake a comprehensive review of the parental leave and pay system. The Government subsequently announced a review that adopted the majority of the letter’s core recommendations.
Outside of work, Simon is a dad to a toddler and valued the opportunity to take an extended period of parental leave during his son’s first year.
Laura Jarvis-King
Laura Jarvis-King is a Research Associate at the University of Manchester. Her research interests explore work trajectories, working time and the digitalisation of work. Within this broad remit, she has worked with a number of organisations to undertake practice- and policy-based research.
Outside of work, Laura is a mum to two young children and is also a keen DIY-er; currently renovating her home. With any extra time, you’ll find her walking up big hills with her dog.
