Research

Empirical research : in 2005-06, I initiated and took part in a collaborative research project assessing young adults' experience of the way in which their divorced or separating parents managed contact arrangements during their childhood.

That project was established to inform the design of a much larger research programme on a similar theme, which was funded by The Nuffield Foundation during 2010-2012. The final report, J Fortin, J Hunt and L Scanlan, Taking a longer view of contact: The perspectives of young adults who experienced parental separation in their youth, (2012) Sussex Law School, can be accessed http://www.sussex.ac.uk/law/research/centreforresponsibilities/takingalongerviewofcontact. Our research findings fill an important gap in our knowledge about the way that contact arrangements can affect children’s relationships with their separated parents as they mature into adulthood.

Library based research : I take a particular interest in the field of children's rights and the extent to which international human rights law can promote that concept within the context of the English legal system.