My name is Laura and I’m super excited to be joining the ARCH research team. I am a registered social worker and researcher at the University of Stirling. My research interests include children’s rights and welfare, bereavement, domestic abuse, and using digital methods in research with children and young people. I am also doing a PhD where I am exploring children’s participation in statutory review processes following domestic homicide.

I spent the majority of my social work career working with care-experienced children, and I am excited about working on such an innovative project which is both international and multidisciplinary. The ARCH project is of particular interest to me as it centres around recognising the importance of childhood experiences and memories. I am looking forward to seeing where the study leads us within the context of archiving in children’s residential homes, but also what we can learn about archiving and record keeping which may be helpful in other areas of childhood experiences and memory keeping.