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Biography
Jan Flaherty is a research fellow for the Leverhulme funded project 'Penal Supervision in Comparative Context', led by Professor Nicola Carr, which compares the practice and experience of community supervision across five different nations: England, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Dr Jan Flaherty's work explores themes of marginalisation, identity, and inequality in modern Britain. She joins the University of Nottingham following research roles at Nottingham Trent University, King's College London, the University of Oxford, and Durham University.
At Nottingham Trent, Jan worked on the Adoption and Names project, using creative writing methods with adult adoptees and adopters to explore identity and belonging through naming. At King's College London, she contributed to the Relations Study at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, which investigated the health and social care needs of parents who use opioids and their families in Scotland and England.
At Oxford's Centre for Social Investigation (Nuffield College), Jan conducted life history mapping interviews with individuals experiencing homelessness, examining the transitions within their housing journeys. Her earlier work at Durham centred on action research around debt and poverty in Teesside, collaborating with community groups to co-produce knowledge. She also worked for six years as an Intensive Family Support Worker for Leicestershire County Council.
Jan completed her PhD at Loughborough University on discourses of poverty, supervised by Professor Ruth Lister (Baroness Lister of Burtersett). Her work reflects a sustained interest in participatory and creative methodologies that centre lived experience, particularly among socially excluded groups.