I am Nicola Spurling, a social researcher and Senior Lecturer in Sociology in the School of Social Sciences at Lancaster University. I’m very interested in how over the last few decades life stories have become newly mobile. New ways to practice autobiography have opened up, generating new communities, forms of creativity and new knowledge. I think that researchers need to pay attention.
I am also someone whose life has not involved parenthood. For me this was the outcome of many unanticipated experiences, and decisions about health, relationships, values and priorities at various points. Some of this was very difficult, and I am grateful that my trajectory coincided with a digitally networked society, where people were opening up about their life stories and creating resources of mutual support. In my current project, I want to play an active role in shaping how this aspect of society is taught and researched.