Fathers/fatherhood; parental mental health; learning disabilities; autism; family well-being and relationships; early years/childhood

Research

I am an interdisciplinary academic with a background in education, psychology, and early childhood studies. My research seeks to understand and reduce inequality for families, particularly those raising a disabled person. My current focus is on the experiences of fathers of disabled children and more broadly the transition to fatherhood for all fathers. My most recent project explored the role of fathers raising children with learning and developmental disabilities at different life stages. A summary of the findings have been shared in an article for the British Academy of Childhood Disability (BACD) and a webinar hosted by the charity Cerebra.

While trained in mixed methodologies, my more recent work takes a qualitative approach and often involves collaboration with charities, families, and professionals to ensure my research has a positive and tangible impact on practice.

Collaboration and engagement

I have a track record of collaborating with those at the focus of my research. I work closely with fathers of disabled children and am the co-leader of FAIR (Fathers Active in Research) who are a group of fathers who advise on research proposals and projects. During my ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2019, I recruited local dads of autistic children in Coventry and Warwickshire to co-create a resource for other dads to support their well-being. These resources were launched during a webinar for families and professionals and were featured in the press, with interviews on BBC Midlands Today and BBC Coventry and Warwickshire Radio.

I have previously been invited to discuss my work on paternal mental health at the ESRC Festival of Social Science, and research on disability and sexuality to a general public audience at the British Academy in London.

If you are an individual or organisation interested in collaborating with me, please get in touch (e.langley.1@warwick.ac.uk).

Doctoral supervision

I am interested in supervising doctoral projects related to my research and methods (above). You are welcome to email me to have an initial chat about your research interests and see whether I would be suitable to supervise your project.

Teaching

I am the module leader of:

• Contemporary Issues in Special Educational Needs, Disability and Inclusion (EQ215, UG, L5).
• Foundations for Learning: Early Years (EQ103, UG, L4).

University and departmental roles

• Co-author of the University's Code of Practice for Disabled Students produced in June 2023.
• Ethical reviewer of light-touch Education Projects for the Humanities and Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee (HSSREC).
• Foundation Fellow of the Warwick Institute of Engagement (2021-2023).
• Department of Education Studies Ethics Committee member.
• Member of the Research in Neurodiversity Affirmative Educational Psychology Research Cluster.

I joined the Department for Education Studies as an Assistant Professor in January 2021. Prior to this I worked at the university as a Research Fellow in the Centre for Research in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (CIDD, formerly CEDAR) funded by an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Postdoctoral Fellowship. I have also worked as a Teaching Fellow in Early Childhood and Social Studies/Health & Social Policy in the Centre for Lifelong Learning (CLL).

In 2014, I was awarded funding by the ESRC to undertake a PhD in Education and Psychology, in collaboration with the charity Cerebra. This involved working on the Cerebra 1000 Families Study, the largest longitudinal study of parental caregivers of children with learning disabilities and/or autism in the UK.

Education

PhD Education and Psychology. University of Warwick

MEd Psychology of Education. University of Manchester

BA (Hons) Early Childhood Studies. University of Warwick