About us

Meet the team

Our members have extensive experience in delivering high-quality projects in the field of applied research for social care, to improve outcomes for people who require social care.

Executive Director

Katherine has lots of experience working with children, young people, and adults with learning disabilities, their families and allies in research. Her work draws on critical disability studies and critical studies of care.  She is a family carer, as the mother of two adult children, one of whom has a learning disability.

Co-directors

Liz's research aims to improve health and social care services for adults with learning disabilities. She has significant expertise in developing and evaluating programmes and interventions. Liz is committed to inclusive research practices, and she also teaches students about how to make sure research involves people who are often underrepresented.

Kate is director of the ESRC Centre for Care, and based in the Centre for International Research on Care, Labour and Equalities (CIRCLE) in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Sheffield. Her research has explored how technologies are used to help people do the things they want to do and with care and support

Peter’s research interests include the use of information to support the care of people with different health conditions and the use of statistical and machine learning methods to analyse health and social care data. Much of his research over the last 30 years has centred on the needs of older people and on using data analytic methods to predict outcomes within this group. 

Nathan is co-director of the Centre for International Research on Care, Labour and Equalities, and deputy director of the ESRC Centre for Care. His research considers the experiences of people with neurodevelopmental disabilities, such as acquired brain injury, communication difficulties, and learning disabilities, including in relation to social care, education, and criminal justice.