Dr Alex Masardo

Profile

Alex’s current research explores the post-parental separation care of children and the different ways in which law and policy respond to changes in and influence the regulation of family relationships. As an undergraduate, Alex studied Law and Social Sciences at Oxford Brookes University and has often taken a socio-legal approach to much of his work. He was awarded his Master of Research in European Social Policy and later his doctorate in the Department of Social and Policy Sciences, University of Bath. He has contributed to taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the areas of sociology of the family and family policy, healthcare ethics and law, and the relationship between research and policy. Alex has held Visiting and Honorary Fellowships in the Centre for the Analysis of Social Policy (CASP), University of Bath and the Centre for the Study of Global Ethics (CSGE), University of Birmingham.

From 2009–2011, Alex worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the Centre for Biomedical Ethics, (now Medicine, Ethics, Society and History (MESH), at the University of Birmingham. He has written on fathers’ experiences of managing shared residence in Britain and France and is Co-Investigator on the AHRC Networking Grant: ‘Post-separation families and shared residence: setting the interdisciplinary research agenda for the future’. In addition to his current teaching, Alex is developing research that will look at shared parental responsibility for children’s education and cross-national work that will explore differences in post-separation patterns of care in the context of shared residence.
 

Research interests

•  Families and relationships
• Changing family forms
• The post-separation care of children
• Fatherhood
• Teenage parenthood
• The impact of socio-economic factors in influencing the way families negotiate responsibilities
• Qualitative research methods
• Comparative research methods

Current projects

• Co-Investigator, AHRC Research Network on post-separation families and shared residence

Teaching

Undergraduate

• Childhood, Youth and Deviance

Publications

Books

Draper, H., Harris-Short, S. and Masardo, A. (eds) (in preparation), Caring for Children Post Separation, publisher TBC.

Book sections

Masardo, A. (2011) ‘Negotiating shared residence: the experience of separated fathers in Britain and France’, in C. Lind, J. Bridgeman and H. Keating (eds), Regulating Family Responsibilities, Aldershot: Ashgate.

Masardo, A. (2009), ‘Managing shared residence in Britain and France: questioning a default ‘primary carer’ model’, in K. Rummery, I. Greener and C. Holden (eds) Social Policy Review 21: Analysis and debate in social policy, 2009, Bristol: The Policy Press.

Masardo, A. (2009), A Guide to Shared Residence, Community Care Inform: the online information source for professionals working with children and families.

Thesis

Masardo, A., (2009). Managing shared residence: a study of fathers' experiences in Britain and France. Thesis (Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)). Available at: http://opus.bath.ac.uk/19377/

Conference or Workshop Items

CFR Seminar, KU Leuven – ‘New Family Forms Following Family Dissolution: Consequences in/on Postmodern Society’, 12–14 September 2012. Paper: ‘Researching familial and kinship networks in the context of sensitive research: some theoretical, ethical and empirical challenges’.

AHRC Research Network on post-separation families and shared residence, Meeting 4, University of Birmingham, 28–29 March 2012. Paper: ‘The impact of welfare benefits provision on post-separation patterns of care for children’.

AHRC Research Network on post-separation families and shared residence, Meeting 1, University of Birmingham, 6–7 January 2011. Paper: ‘Defining shared residence: A multi-dimensional approach’.

Sensitive Research Group Seminar, University of Bath, 18 June 2010. Paper: ‘Researching kinship networks in the context of post-separation families: some implications for research methodology’.

British Society for Population Studies Annual Conference, University of Manchester, 10–12 September 2008. Paper: ‘Shared Residence: A new social category of analysis?’.

Sussex Law School, International Conference on ‘Gender, Family Responsibility and Legal Change’, University of Sussex, 10–12 July 2008. Paper: ‘Shared residence: the experience of separated fathers in Britain and France’.

Social Policy Association Annual Conference, ‘Challenging Boundaries’, School of Social and Political Studies, University of Edinburgh, 23–25 June 2008. Paper: ‘Managing shared residence in Britain and France: A relational and structural analysis from fathers’ perspectives’.

Centre for Research on Families and Relationships ‘Extended and Extending Families’ International Conference, University of Edinburgh, 27–29 June 2007. Paper: ‘Managing shared residence: fathers’ dilemmas and the challenges for law, policy and practice’.

6th WELLCHI Network Workshop. ‘The relationship between children and non-resident fathers and its impact on their quality of life’. Oslo, 1–2 December 2006.