I joined The Open University in 2004 as a Staff Tutor and lecturer in Sociology. After moving to the Department of Social Policy and Criminology (SPC), I worked on research methods and family studies curriculum. I was appointed as the Associate Dean for Research in the Faculty of Social Sciences (2014-2016) and am now Professor of Sociology and Intimacy in SPC.
Before joining the OU, I worked in the Centre for Applied Childhood Studies (University of Huddersfield), the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Studies (University of Leeds) and the Department of Sociology and Gender Studies (University of Hull). I started academic life in the School of Media (University of Humberside). I have a PhD Women’s Studies/Sociology from the University of York (2002).

My research and innovative impact activities have been recognised by three prestigious awards: the BSA Philip Abrams Memorial prize (2009) for best sole-authored first book in Sociology, the Open University Engaging Research Award (2014), the Evelyn Gillian Research Impact Award (2016).