I am a senior research fellow with the Rowan Group, a small research group which aims to establish a coherent body of research on and with young people in relation to their wellbeing and their relationships with families and others. In addition to my academic background, I have worked in community development, youth work and health promotion and have a commitment to working with rather than on young people.

My recent research has focused on young people and their relationships. This has included leading on empirical studies of youth mentoring relationships, reviews of mentoring and befriending and the organisation of an ESRC seminar series. This collaborative series brought together a group of national and international researchers, policy makers and practitioners to explore theoretical dimensions of youth mentoring and to take a critical perspective on the concept.

As a member of the Rowan group I have also undertaken externally funded research on young people' mental health, the salience of role models for young people, health inequalities, social inclusion and youth work interventions and sexual health and relationships education. This has included a collaborative longitudinal evaluation of a national demonstration project on sex and relationships education and national reviews of sex and relationships education in primary and secondary schools in Scotland. Our website includes further information on the work of the group: http://www.abdn.ac.uk/rowangroup.

I have previously participated and published from my work with the COE partnership on young people and social exclusion.

I have a strong commitment to active dissemination of findings from research to policy and practice communities, in formal and informal education, in health promotion, and in related services. I have published widely in academic, policy, professional and practitioner journals and magazines. I am an associate director of the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships, a consortium of Scottish universities (www.crfr.ed. ac.uk).