Dr Edmund Coleman-Fountain

Assistant Professor

Department: Social Sciences

I joined Northumbria University as a lecturer in 2016 and was promoted to senior lecturer in 2019. Before coming to Northumbria I worked in the Social Policy Research Unit at the University of York and the Policy, Ethics and Life Sciences Research Centre at Newcastle University. The trajectory has informed my research and teaching interests in theories of embodiment, disability, sexuality, and care worlds.

At Northumbria I have acted as programme leader for the Sociology BSc programme. I have sat on a number of committees and groups within the Department of Social Science, including on the departmental Research Ethics Committee and the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group. I am a fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a member of the British Sociological Association.

Email Edmund

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

My research interests span the fields of sexuality studies, disability studies, and applied social care. Much of my research focuses on the experiences of young people and young adults. I have an interest in understanding the relationships between social care practices, contemporary intimacies, identities, and embodiments, and have worked with a range of qualitive methodologies, including narrative, visual and creative practice.

My research has been published in numerous social science journals, including Sociology, Social Science & Medicine, and Qualitative Research, as well as applied practitioner journals. In 2014 I published Understanding Narrative Identity through Lesbian and Gay Youth (Palgrave Macmillan) based on my doctoral research. I am also co-author of the book Disabled Childhoods: Monitoring Differences and Emerging Identities (Routledge, 2016) with Janice McLaughlin and Emma Clavering (Newcastle University).

My current research project funded by the NIHR School for Social Care looks at the relations between disabled assistance users and personal assistance in the context of sexual and gender diversity. In 2020 I joined the main editorial board of Sociological Research Online, a journal of the British Sociological Association.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Creating Time for LGBT+ Disabled Youth: Co-production Outside Chrononormativity, Humphrey, H., Coleman-Fountain, E. 22 Feb 2023, In: Sociological Research Online
Building a Community for Queer Disability Studies: Lessons from the Snail, Slater, J., Humphrey, H., Coleman-Fountain, E., Jones, C. 9 Dec 2022, In: Canadian Journal of Disability Studies
Improving mental health in autistic young adults: a qualitative study exploring help-seeking barriers in UK primary care, Coleman-Fountain, E., Buckley, C., Beresford, B. 1 May 2020, In: British Journal of General Practice
Lived Difference: Ordinariness and Misfitting in the Lives of Disabled and LGBT Youth, Coleman-Fountain, E. 23 Jan 2020, Young disabled and LGBT+, London, Taylor & Francis
Visual methods and voice in disabled childhoods research: troubling narrative authenticity, McLaughlin, J., Coleman-Fountain, E. 1 Aug 2019, In: Qualitative Research
Improving Young People’s Mental Health? Understanding Ambivalence to Seeking Support Among Young Adults With Asperger Syndrome, Coleman-Fountain, E., Beresford, B. 4 Oct 2018, The Management of Wicked Problems in Health and Social Care, Taylor & Francis
Pursuit of ordinariness: dynamics of conforming and resisting in disabled young people’s embodied practices, McLaughlin, J., Coleman-Fountain, E. 20 Mar 2018, Disability, Normalcy, and the Everyday, London, Taylor & Francis
Diversity and Change in the Labour Market Careers of Persons with Disabilities, Coleman-Fountain, E., Sainsbury, R., Trezzini, B., Káňová, Š. 5 Dec 2017, Understanding the Lived Experiences of Persons with Disabilities in Nine Countries, London, UK, Taylor & Francis
How to enhance Active Citizenship for persons with disabilities in Europe through labour market participation, Sainsbury, R., Coleman-Fountain, E., Trezzini, B. 28 Apr 2017, The Changing Disability Policy System: Active Citizenship and Disability in Europe Volume 1, London, Taylor & Francis
Uneasy Encounters: Youth, Social (Dis)comfort and the Autistic Self, Coleman-Fountain, E. Jul 2017, In: Social Science & Medicine

Professional Activity

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Invited talk: Disabled Young People’s experience of Personal Support: Intimacies, identities and embodiments in Personal Assistance Relationships 2022
Invited talk: Materialising Sexualities in Personal Assistance Relationships 2022
Examination: Examiner: Exploring (Dis)abled Children's Embodied Experiences in Primary School Space 2022
Invited talk: Disability, time and involvement in social care research 2022
Editorial work: Sociological Research Online (Journal) 2022
Organising a conference, workshop, ...: Questions in Queer Disability Studies 2021
Invited talk: Creating Time for LGBT+ Disabled Youth: Research Involvement in Pandemic Times 2021
Invited talk: Creating Time for LGBT+ Disabled Youth: Research Involvement in Pandemic Times 2021
Editorial work: Sociological Research Online (Journal) 2020
Examination: Examination: More-than-verbal dialogues : exploring communication in families of young people on the autism spectrum 2019

Qualifications

Sociology PhD June 01 2011
Social Research MA August 01 2006
Sociology MA (Hons) June 01 2004
Higher Education Academy (Fellow) HFEA 2016
Member of the British Sociological Association (BSA) British Sociological Association (BSA) 2005