Postgraduate research students

Through qualitative interviewing, my research explores how personal assistance is experienced in Scotland.

Contrary to traditional forms of 'care', personal assistance is a support model led by the user who employs their own support staff, known as personal assistants (PAs), to support them to live independently. Originating from disabled people's activism within the Indepenent Living Movement (ILM), personal assistance is rooted in independent living philosophy and when supported properly can transform the lives of those who implement it. 

The Social Work Scotland (Self-Directed Support) Act 2013 was designed to support those who wanted to to access this type of support in Scotland. However, for a variety of reasons, there have been numerous barriers to progress towards this aim over the last decade. In reaction to policy failures across the social care sector in Scotland, the Feeley Review, published in 2021, highlighted a need for improved understanding of PAs' role within the social care workforce. Subsequently, over the last 5 years, policy attention has turned towards personal assistance. In addition to researching the experiences of PAs, my work also focuses on the experiences of those who employ PAs. This group is made up of disabled people, directly employing PAs for themselves, and unpaid carers who employ PAs on behalf of a relative. 

My research is co-supervised by academic experts in personalisation policy, welfare conditionality and research ethics, and civil servants from the adult social care and workforce directorates from the Scottish Government. I have also sought the support of disabled people's organisations (DPOs), allied organisations and carer's centres during participant recruitment. 

• Professor Charlotte Pearson
• Dr Jane Cullingworth
• Professor Sharon Wright

Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) PhD Studentship (1+3) from Scottish Graduate School for Social Science. 

Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) Inaugural Knowledge Exchange Event, 10th December 2024.

Panel: Where next for human rights in Scotland?

Paper: Searching for a Holistic Rights-Based Approach to Personal Assistance for people with learning disabilities and their support networks in Scotland. 

I tutor on the undergraduate course Social and Public Policy 2B: Policy, Politics and Power. 

I am an active member of the Scottish Government's Personal Assistant Programme Board, and sit on their Research and Data Working Group. I am also a member of the SDS National Collaboration. I am based within the Glasgow Centre for Disability Research (GDCR) and am a member of the Centre for Public Policy's Early Career Network.

Outwith research on personal assistance and independent living I am interested in feminist disability studies, research ethics, healthcare accessibility, sibling/family relationships involving disability and the emotionally demanding nature of doing research with shared lived experience. Outside of work I enjoy baking, socialising with friends and participating in olympic weightlifting.