An EconoTimes perspective

Lucy Blake

Research Associate at the Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge As a Research Associate at the Centre for Family Research at the University of Cambridge, I conduct and coordinate studies that focus on family relationships and psychological well-being. My research has focused on families created through assisted reproductive technologies, such as sperm donation, egg donation, and surrogacy. I have explored how parents explain their use of donor eggs, sperm or surrogates, to their young children. I have also examined how children think and feel about their families. More recently, my research has focused on the breakdown of family relationships, sometimes referred to as family estrangement. This relatively common phenomenon has received little research attention. The aim of my research is to expand upon what we know about the causes, processes and consequences of relationship breakdown between family members, and to explore how estrangement affects and influences psychological well-being. I am committed to conducting high quality research on families that is of use to policy makers, practitioners, and families themselves. There is a lot to gain from moving beyond assumptions and studying families as they actually are.