Our team

Professor Katherine Brickell
Principal Investigator

Katherine is Professor of Urban Studies in the Department of Geography at King’s College London and co-author of the 2025 book Debt Trap Nation: Family Homelessness in a Failing State. Since 2017 she has undertaken multiple research studies with Mel Nowicki on homeless families’ experiences, the first on modular-built Temporary Accommodation (TA) in London and Dublin, and the second, on the interconnections between debt, family homelessness, and TA in Greater Manchester. Their research report The Debt Trap was launched at the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Households in Temporary Accommodation in October 2023 and is the subject of policy engagement work with local authorities. Katherine has two decades of research experience examining gendered dynamics and inequalities of domestic life, and has long-standing expertise of working in partnership with local and international organisations to enhance the real-world impact of her collaborative research.

Katherine leads the Sensory Lives project and is responsible for building dialogue and action on the findings of the project through the playhouse tent and broader policy engagement to enact positive change for families.

Dr Rosalie Warnock
Co-Investigator

Rosalie is a Research Fellow in the Department of Geography at King’s College London. She is a critical social and economic geographer with 8 years’ research experience on everyday neurodiverse family lives, care, austerity welfare reform, and inequality in the UK. Her PhD research (QMUL, awarded 2022) examined how parents and carers of autistic children navigate and access SEND and social security support services in London. You can find out more here. She has worked in a research capacity with marginalised parents and carers across the UK (London, Yorkshire, and online), and as a youth support worker with young autistic people in Oxford. Rosalie is passionate about research methods and ethics and sits on the High-Risk Ethics Committee for the KCL Faculty of Social Sciences and Public Policy.

Rosalie’s role on the Sensory Lives project is to develop ways of working inclusively with neurodivergent children and their families and to translate these lived experiences into calls for participant-led policy change.

Shared Health Foundation
Project Partner

Shared Health Foundation (SHF) is a clinically-led and evidence-based non-profit, passionate about reducing the impact poverty has on health. SHF primarily support homeless families in Greater Manchester. They also campaign for policy change and are Co-secretariat of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Households in Temporary Accommodation (HTA). With the APPG HTA, they are currently leading the SAFE Campaign to place a statutory obligation on local councils to notify a child’s school and GP when a family becomes homeless. SHF are supporting the Sensory Lives team through the family-focused research in Greater Manchester as well as working to best shape policy strategy emerging from the project findings.

Indoamerican Refugee and Migrant Organisation (IRMO)
Project Collaborator

For over 40 years, IRMO has been led by and for the Latin American community, building deep ties and trust across the UK as they fight for a future where everyone can access their rights, live free from poverty and discrimination, and pursue their aspirations without barriers. IRMO are supporting our family-focused research in London.

Z2K
Project Collaborator

Z2K are a leading anti-poverty charity working to end UK poverty through providing expert frontline advice and representation services and campaigning for change. They are deeply connected to the people they serve. By tackling the twin pillars that create and sustain poverty – inadequate incomes and high costs – Z2K aim to end UK poverty, for good. They are supporting our family-focused research in London.

Claire Vincent
ESRC Studentship Intern

Claire is a PhD student in the Department of Education at the University of York. Her research explores the secondary school experiences of late-diagnosed autistic females, and the understanding that teachers have of these experiences. Prior to PhD study, she worked for 12 years as a secondary school teacher in the UK, China and Ukraine. She has conducted research into the support available for autistic ‘third-culture kids’, and explored the impacts on teachers of working with children affected by conflict. Claire’s role on the project is to support on research and development of our 2026 multi-sensory playhouse tent tour.

Clare Davis
ESRC Studentship Intern

Clare is a Psychology PhD student at the University of Sussex, where she uses photographic experience sampling and image analysis to investigate visual discomfort in the everyday lives of autistic people. Before starting her PhD, she worked in autism research with a focus on inclusive pedagogy in higher education. As a neurodivergent researcher, Clare is particularly committed to participatory methods that centre the voices of neurodivergent people in the research process. Clare’s role on the project is to support on research and development of our 2026 multi-sensory playhouse tent tour.

Miranda Keast
Consultant

Miranda is an independent consultant who combines an extensive background working in leadership roles in the homelessness sector with strong research experience. She is currently undertaking a professional doctorate in social policy at Cardiff University exploring how homeless migrants experience the making of home in the UK. In the last four years she has led and developed research and network coordination projects for organisations such as Shelter, Crisis, the Museum of Homelessness and Housing Justice. Prior to working independently, she held a range of senior management and governance roles in charities providing direct support to people affected by trauma, homelessness, migration, mental health issues, and disabilities. She has completed training as a trauma-informed coach and in transformative safeguarding methodologies. Miranda is supporting Katherine and Rosalie on the Call for Evidence.

Jan Thorne
Consultant

Jan is an Occupational Therapist (OT) with 25 years’ experience working with learning disabled and autistic adults in community settings. She is a specialist in sensory integration. Jan’s role on the project is to advise on sensory methodologies and to offer OT insight on project findings and recommendations.

Beth Warnock
Consultant

Beth is a neurodivergent artist, curator and community engagement specialist. Most recently she has worked on Artangel’s ‘Come As You Really Are’ exhibition in Croydon and for Frieze Art Fair. Her own artistic practice centres around ideas of home and belonging. Beth’s role on the project is to advise on neuroinclusive ways of designing / curating the 2026 mobile playhouse tent installation, and of engaging with neurodivergent audiences on its tour around the UK.

Claire Brickell
Consultant

Claire Brickell is an award-winning public sector research leader with over 15 years of experience across academic and government sectors, including at the Department for Education. She specialises in taking a user centred approach to knotty policy problems and draws on an extensive methodological toolbox from social research and digital paradigms. Claire holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and previously led research teams across four government departments.

Nazifa Sumiya
Research Assistant – Spatial Data Analysis

Nazifa is a final-year BSc Geography and Environmental Science student at KCL. She is particularly interested in reconciliation ecology and urban ecology for health and wellbeing. Her dissertation examined the effectiveness of Lambeth Council's “Bee Roads” project for urban pollinator conservation and ecological network creation by using a mixture of field surveys, ecological identification, and spatial data analysis. Outside of academia, Nazifa is involved in volunteering and activism at various scales - from local charity work in Tower Hamlets, to participating in panels with the Greater London Authority, to attending COP26.

Nazifa is responsible for spatially analysing temporary accommodation data, and for researching potential locations and community partners for the Sensory Lives playhouse tent tour of the UK.

Advisory board members

Agata Ostaszewska, Neurodiversity Participation and Impact Lead, Autistica.

Professor Anna Tarrant, Professor of Sociology, University of Lincoln.

Dr Emily Barker, Research and Learning Officer, 4in10.

Professor Monica Lakhanpaul, Professor of Integrated Community Child Health, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health.

Rhiannon Hawkins, PhD Student, School of Geographical & Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow.

Stephen Kingdom, Campaign Manager, Disabled Children’s Partnership.

Sam Pratt, Policy and Communications Lead, Shared Health Foundation.