Anna Tarrant is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Lincoln and is a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow. Her research interests include men and masculinities; family life; the lifecourse; and methods of qualitative secondary analysis and co-creation. Her current funded study, ‘Following Young Fathers Further’, is a qualitative longitudinal, participatory study of the lives and support needs of young fathers. She is also author of Fathering and Poverty, published with Policy Press (2021).

Errol Murray is the founder of Leeds Dads, a charitable support group for dads and their pre-school children. Leeds Dads brings together a diverse community of fathers for social interaction and support, and

Errol started Leeds Dads in 2011 as a way of spending more time with his daughter and creating more time out for his wife.

The group holds regular playgroups for dads and kids and activities to support dads with their wellbeing and parental advice and offer a space for dads to engage with their preschool kids. Around 30 dads meet with their kids to enjoy arts craft, games, a singalong and story time.

Leeds Dads’ flagship event Dadstastic Day regularly attracts over 2,000 dads, mums, carers and kids to Leeds City Museum, making it the biggest free Father’s Day party in England.

Errol has also launched the Perinatal Partners Peer Support Service at Leeds Perinatal Mental Health Service. This service is part of Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

It supports women experiencing significant mental health difficulties during pregnancy during pregnancy and extending to a year after childbirth.

To ensure the service is also meeting the needs of the wider family, partners are able to access peer support for emotional support and advice, and the opportunity to access a mental health wellbeing assessment.

Georgia Philip is a lecturer and researcher in the Centre for Research on Children and Families, in the School of Social Work, University of East Anglia. Since 2014, she has worked on two major research studies of fathers' experiences of child protection services and of repeat or recurrent care proceedings. Georgia teaches on the Social Work and the Sociology programme and is currently chair of the School of Social Work's research ethics committee. She is also a collaborator and co-writer of a theatre show based on her research with fathers.

Lee Sobo-Allen is a Senior Lecturer in Social Work with previous experience as a qualified social worker in child protection, children with disabilities and adults with learning disabilities. His research interests include social work engagement with fathers.

After qualifying as a social worker at the University of Manchester in 1998, Lee worked in the areas of child protection, children with disabilities and adults with learning disabilities. It was during this time that he developed an interest in, and knowledge of, the need to engage with fathers in childcare social work as both a risk and a resource. This interest has continued in his studies, and in his teaching in social work education at a number of universities.

Through an MA in Child Care Law and Practice, Lee was able to explore the socio-legal context of this engagement. Recently he completed a MA in Social Research at the University of Leeds and is currently in the write-up stage of a part-time PhD at Cardiff University where he is exploring the engagement of non-resident fathers by social workers as alternative carers for their children. Lee also specializes in the teaching of all aspects of social work law with a particular specialism in child care legislation

Owen Thomas, Head of Programmes (Fathers), has over 15 years extensive direct experience working closely with Fathers and Male carers at crucial stages of their lives. He has responsibility supervising a team of Fathers work project co-ordinators across London, offering direct support and interventions to Fathers, Young Fathers and young men including having oversight of the Future Dads expectant fathers’ program.

An element of this role is strategic, - advocating for the needs of Young and expectant Fathers at local and national forums. He is passionate about addressing stereotypes around masculinities, culture, and identity, and promoting positive well-being and healthy relationships.

Prof. Brid Featherstone is Professor of Social Work at the University of

Huddersfield. She has extensive experience of researching men’s
perspectives on safeguarding and family support services. She co-led the Research in Practice Change Programme on 'thinking and doing differently' around domestic abuse and child protection.

Prof. Jonathan Scourfield is Professor of Social Work in Cardiff University, where he has worked for 25 years. He is Deputy Director of CASCADE, the Children's Social Care Research and Development Centre.

Before becoming an academic, he worked as a secondary school teacher, group worker in a therapeutic community and probation officer.

He was seconded to the Welsh Government, from 2018-21, as specialist policy adviser to the Minister responsible for social care.

He is the author of Gender and Child Protection and Working with Men and Health and Social Care (with Brid Featherstone and Mark Rivett).