Entwinings: insights from a career studying work, care and family life

Professor Sue Yeandle, BA (Hons), PhD, FAcSS
University of Sheffield

The lecture will take place at 15:30 in Lecture Theatre 4, with refreshments from 15:00 in The Cornerstone

This lecture is arranged to mark the conclusion of Sue Yeandle’s academic career as she stands down in 2024 as Director of the ESRC Centre for Care 1 and Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Care and Caring. Sue was awarded her PhD by the University of Kent in 1983 and published her first book in 1984.

Culminating in her leadership of the Centre for Care and the establishment of a new international journal, Sue’s career as a sociologist, researcher and teacher has spanned four decades, involving collaborations with over 50 co-authors and numerous partnerships around the world. Many of the studies Sue has led have explored inequalities and challenges in how work, care and family life are interconnected and entwined. Her topics have included women’s paid and unpaid work; unemployment and family life; gender inequalities in local labour markets; the role of technology in supporting older and disabled people; and how individuals, families, employers and the state can - or could – help individuals to reconcile work and family life in ways that benefit and sustain them. Since 2000, Sue has specialised in studying unpaid carers and the social and workplace policies needed to support them.

The talk will acknowledge the debt Sue owes to the many scholars, colleagues, students, policymakers and practitioners she has been privileged to learn from and to work with and will celebrate her long-standing collaboration with Carers UK and, through this, with other carers’ organisations around the globe. Focusing on learning and progress in crucial areas of everyday life, the lecture will offer a perspective on the potential for flexible and resourceful entwinings of care, work and family life that can deliver wellbeing for all.

For more information, please contact Centre for Care Manager Kelly Davidge k.s.davidge@sheffield.ac.uk