My research career as an academic children’s nurse began with the completion of my PhD (2007), having previous undertaken my MSc part time while in Clinical practice. My PhD involved a phenomenological exploration of transition to motherhood and returning to work. Methodologically my expertise is in qualitative although I have been involved in projects of mixed methods. I have been fortunate to be involved in a variety of research projects while at the university for example with teenage Mums, children in care and young offenders. I led the development of a Universal Family Assessment tool with the Early Help in Early Years Project and we have recently published this project. I secured National Lottery Funding to create a centre for families in my local community which has been completed. We have recently completed the evaluation of the Charnwood project which involved Early Help for Vulnerable families. I am currently project lead for the Barnett Schools Resilience Project and involved in the qualitative aspects.