Ann Buchanan (academic)

Ann Buchanan, MBE is a British researcher, author and academic. She is Senior Research Associate in the Department of Social Policy and Intervention and Professor Emeritus of Social Work at Oxford University. She is also a Supernumerary Fellow of St. Hilda's College.

Ann Buchanan MBE
Born	(1941-05-21) May 21, 1941 England
Nationality	British
Spouse(s)	Alistair Buchanan
Children	3
Academic background
Alma mater	University of Bath University of Southampton
Academic work
Institutions	Oxford University

Buchanan's research has been focused on studies on children who were looked after, child protection, the impact of divorce, fathering, grandparenting, child-well-being and children at risk of exclusion.

Buchanan was awarded the MBE in 2012 for services to Social Science.[1] She is a fellow of the Academy of Social Science.[2]

Early life and education

Buchanan was born in England and raised in Scotland. She received a Diploma in Social Studies in 1968 with Distinction and Post-Graduate Diploma in Applied Social Studies from University of Bath and Certificate of Qualification in Social Work. In 1990, she received a Ph.D. in Social Work and Psychology from University of Southampton.[3]

Career

In 1974, Buchanan joined Burderop Hospitals as a Research Assistant to Jack Oliver. She left Burderop Hospitals in 1980 to become a child psychiatric social worker. In 1989 she was appointed as a Lecturer at University of Southampton. In 1994, she joined University of Oxford as Lecturer. She was promoted to Professor in 2006. At Oxford she set up the Centre for Research into Parenting and Children at Oxford in 1996 with partners from across the university, with a particular focus on children who were at risk of social exclusion. She served as its Director from 1996 to 2008. She was appointed to the Council of ESRC in 2006 and chaired the Research Ethics Committee and Evaluation Board from 2007 to 2013 and then served on the Council of the National Academy of Social Sciences from 2011 to 2017, serving on their Audit Committee and Publication Committees.[4]

Buchanan was a Trustee of Family Welfare Association from 1999 to 2007, The Baring Foundation from 2002 to 2014;[5] Grandparents Plus from 2012 to 2018 and Oxfordshire Community Foundation from 2004 to 2014.[6]

Research

In 1973, Buchanan worked with Jack Oliver on his studies of severely abusing families – with one family they traced back 7 generations. With his help, she wrote her first book Intergenerational Child Maltreatment: Facts, Fancies and Interventions.[7] They also undertook a study on children in subnormality hospital who had been rendered disabled as a result of child abuse.[8]

As, severely abused children ended up in public care, as a social worker Buchanan was interested in what happened to those children brought up by the public parent. She wrote several papers on this topic.[9] Later at Oxford, Buchanan broadened her research to include all children. For these studies, she used the National Child Development Study (NCDS). Her research on what happened when these children grew up showed that children brought up in care had major mental health and other problems when adult.[10] Two issues emerged from her NCDS work: first, the impact of divorce on children’s outcomes and second, the important role of fathers. This led to studies funded by Nuffield Foundation on divorce and ESRC on fathers.[11] The work on divorce was also influential highlighting court cases where parents were fighting over the custody of children.[12]

By this point, the focus of Buchanan's research was moving onto how to promote child well-being and supportive family relationships. She conducted research on the issues that went wrong in family relationships.[13] Her Centre at Oxford ran seminars every year on ‘Promoting the well-being of children’; two edited volumes emerged from this work.[14] She continued her work on fathering but also began focusing on the impact of grandparents in a child's life. Subsequently, she edited a volume on the role of grandfathers.[15]

In 2013, she co-edited the book Fertility Rates and Population Decline: No Time for Children? with Anna Rotkirch.[16] She then edited the 2016 book, Grandfathers: Global Perspectives with Rotkirch. The book was nominated for a British Academy Peter Townsend award.[17] In 2018, she and Rotkirch edited the book The Role of Grandparents in the 21st Century: Global Perspectives on Changing Roles and Consequences.[18]

Awards and honors

• 2009 - Fellow of the Academy of Social Science
• 2012 - MBE for services to Social Science
• 2013 - Honorary LLD, University of Bath[19]

References

1. "Queen's birthday honour's list 2012: MBE".
2. "Academy of Social Science Fellows".
3. "Ann Buchanan".
4. {{cite web|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21582041.2013.767469%7Ctitle=Impact and knowledge mobilisation: what I have learnt as Chair of the Economic and Social Research Council Evaluation Committee}natio}
5. "The Baring Foundation - Report on Activities" (PDF).
6. "Kanta Gopal".
7. "Intergenerational Child Maltreatment" (PDF).
8. "Abuse and neglect as a cause of mental retardation: A study of 140 children admitted to subnormality hospitals in Wiltshire".
9. "Parental Background, Social Disadvantage, Public "Care," and Psychological Problems in Adolescence and Adulthood".
10. "The long-term effects for children of different parental backgrounds".
11. "Fathers' involvement with their secondary-school-aged children".
12. "Divorcing Children: Children's Experience of Their Parents' Divorce".
13. "Protective Factors in Family Relationships".
14. "Book Review. Promoting Children's Emotional Well‐Being Ann Buchanan and Barbara Hudson".
15. "The Role of Grandparents in the 21st Century: Global Perspectives on Changing Roles and Consequences".
16. "Fertility Rates and Population Decline".
17. "The British Academy has nominated the book Grandfathers: Global Perspectives for the Peter Townsend Prize".
18. "The Role of Grandparents in the 21st Century".
19. "Our highest honour".