Professional activities
Together with Dr Andrea Todd from the University of Chester and Lyndsey Carmichael from the University of Exeter I’ve founded SPearHEdThe Centre for Student-Parent experience, advocacy and research in Higher Education, a collaborative research and advocacy centre dedicated to improving the experiences of student-parents across higher education. We hope to bring together academics, institutions, and partner organisations to generate evidence, share best practice, and influence policy.
A first task has been to develop a 10 point Student-Parent Charter which will be launched in the 2026-27 academic year. The Charter is designed to support higher education institutes to mitigate the risks associated with student-parenting, as now required by the Ofs.
We are gathering feedback about current experiences and to garner support for the rollout of the Charter, from recent and current student-parents and any HEI staff who work with them. The SURVEY is open please feel free to share, it will close on 31 August 2026.