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Profile

Linda’s research focuses on family law and children’s social care, with particular emphasis on child wellbeing, safeguarding and outcomes for vulnerable children and young people.

She has almost 20 years’ experience in applied social research, including ten years at the Social Policy Research Unit (SPRU), University of York. Her work examines how children and families come into contact with child protection and family justice systems, and how professional decision?making and legal processes shape children’s longer?term outcomes. She has particular expertise in research relating to looked?after children, permanence pathways, kinship care and under?examined safeguarding contexts.

Methodologically, Linda specialises in quantitative and mixed?methods research, including the analysis and linkage of large?scale administrative and cohort data, alongside survey, casefile and qualitative research.

Linda has been Principal Investigator and Co?Investigator on a range of major, externally funded studies examining children’s social care, safeguarding and family justice. As PI, she currently leads a Nuffield Foundation–funded study of private family law applications involving non?parents, focused on improving understanding of the circumstances, needs and experiences of affected children and families. She has been a Co?Investigator on the longitudinal Permanently Progressing? study since it started in 2014; Phase Three, examining the circumstances, pathways and outcomes of children who entered care at a very young age in Scotland, began in 2026.

She has also led commissioned research for the Scottish Government on infants entering care and for the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory on pathways through private family law. As a Co?Investigator, Linda worked on the ?2.2m Nuffield?funded Family Justice Data Partnership (Family Justice Observatory), leading the private family law programme of work.