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Professor Caroline Gatrell

Formerly at Lancaster University

PhD supervision

I am interested in taking on new PhD students who wish to research health, work and family from a qualitative, socio-cultural perspective. I seek applicants with research interests in maternal bodies; masculinities and work; parenthood and work-life balance, and 'glass ceilings'. Applicants must be self-motivated, well-organised and with a consistently excellent academic track record.

Profile

I am Professor of Management Studies at Lancaster University Management School (LUMS), Department of Management Learning and Leadership (DMLL). My research focuses on health, work and family and is theoretically driven, drawing upon notions of the body and gender. I critically analyse, from a socio-cultural perspective, how employed parents manage boundaries between employment and everyday lives.  

In connection with this role I am Chair of NARTI (Northern Advanced Research Training Initiative) and institutional lead for the North West Doctoral Training Centre (NWDTC: Lancaster, Manchester, and Liverpool Universities). From 2012-2014 I was Director of Doctoral Programmes  in LUMS, with responsibility for strategic development.

With Professor Ossie Jones (Liverpool) I am Co-Editor in Chief, International Journal of Management Reviews.

Research Grants

LUMS visiting professor award, Principal investigator, awarded £4,300 (2012) for funding of visit to LUMS in June 2013 by Gary Powell, Professor of Management and Director, School of Business Ph.D. Program, University of Connecticut. Purpose of the visit for Professor Powell to engage with LUMS PhD programme and faculty regarding research in work-family balance, gender and entrepreneurship.

'Work Life Balance: Working for Fathers? Lottery Research Fund (2009 – 2011):  Awarded £332,000 + £3,500 follow on funding jointly with the charity Working Families from the Lottery Research Fund. Purpose: As P.I. in collaboration with ‘Working Families’. and with Simon Burnett, Cary Cooper and Paul Sparrow, I explored paternal well-being in the context of employment and workplace stress.

Embodying Maternal Management (2007 – 2008): Awarded £3,259  in 2007 from University’s Small Grants CommitteePurpose: A qualitative research project investigating the conflict between mothers’ professional productive labour and the labour of maternity.

Staying the course? How part-time PhD students manage their own learning (2007 – 2009)Awarded £2929 from the LUMS Pump Priming Scheme. Purpose: to explore how professionally and/or managerially employed part-time PhD students manage their own learning. 

Hard Labour: The cultural politics of reproduction (with Imogen Tyler, Sociology) awarded £2,000 from Lancaster University Institute for Advanced Studies.Purpose: development of a significant cross-departmental research project and network
Workshop: Maternal bodies November 2, 2005
Conference: Birth March 6 & 7, 2007

Current Teaching

I enjoy supervising PhDs on sociologies of health, work and family in the context of management practices. I have developed a range of training programmes (from introductory through to advanced) for postgraduate research students and early career researchers.

I have undertaken full spectrum teaching: lectures, seminars, dissertation supervision face-to-face and on-line. I teach research methods on DMLL's MA programmes, the School's research training programme and the MSc in Management. I have convened the module 'Sociology of Childbirth' on Lancaster's undergraduate Medicine degree programme.

Research Interests

My research centres on sociologies of work, health and family. I examine how employed parents manage work-life balance through analysing personal and everyday lives. I explore how the productive labour of paid work interconnects with the reproductive labour of parenting. I undertake these investigations through theoretically driven, empirical research drawing upon notions of the body and gender. From a socio-cultural perspective, I focus on the maternal body; masculinities, and the gendering of management practices.

I enjoy working with the press and media. I have made several appearances on BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour, and have joined Laurie Taylor on his 'Thinking Allowed' programme.

Qualifications

PhD Lancaster, MBA Lancaster (awarded with Distinction), MA London, BA Manchester

Current Research

My research focuses on health, work and family and is theoretically driven, drawing upon notions of the body and gender. I critically analyse, from a socio-cultural perspective, how employed parents manage boundaries between employment and everyday lives.  

I am a member of the Oxford Network of European Fatherhood Researchers (ONeFaR). As a member of this network I examine fathers' experiences of changing workplace attitudes towards involved fathering.

My research on working mothers centres on relationships between maternal bodies and organisational practices. I focus particularly on pregnancy and new maternity, including breastfeeding at work.

Since 2014 I have been an Academic Advisory Board Member as part of the Equality and Human Rights Commission/Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) research project on Pregnancy and Maternity-Related Discriminaton.

 

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