‘Research feels more substantial and more meaningful when lived experience and learned experience are treated equally.’
In this article, Safety Nets Team members Kim Elliot (Open University) and Mhairi Ross (University of Glasgow), both members of our research team and parents with long-term experience of navigating the benefits system, discuss experiences of working within a team of lived experience and university researchers, and reflect upon being up close in the field, hosting focus groups where parents share their practical and emotional labours involved in exploring low-income parenthood in different nations of the UK. They reflect on their dual expertise as life experts and researchers.
The Safety Nets, Devolved Conversations workstream has developed an experimental approach to research on low-income parenthood, where the design, delivery, analysis, and outputs of our work are co-produced with life experts who are parents with experience of low-income andof navigating the benefits system. In 2025, we hosted fifteen online workshops where sixteen parents on low incomes from across the four nations of the UK come together with our research team in an online space to consider how the devolved functions of the social security system impact family life across the four nations. Each session was designed and co-facilitated with our lived-experience research panel and a group of university researchers. Together, we explored aspects of social security provision, including free school meals, disability benefits, crisis support, employment support, and benefit conditionality, and regularly encounter stories of hardship.
We recently held a series of capacity-building sessions. In these sessions, team members explored the significance of positionality – and our researcher identities – in how we show up for our work and how shifting positions impact our analysis, conclusions, and participatory outputs. Greenwood and Ferrie (2025) note that,
‘Positionality can be defined as how one’s identity and social location influence and impact on how people understand and engage with the world. Centred on power relations, it is a dynamic concept that evolves throughout one’s life.’
As a research team, we have reflected on and agreed that sharing our positionality stories is a vital component of how we address issues of power within our mixed-knowledge-based research team and of making our approach to advocating for more equitable wealth distribution for parents across the UK clear in our research and outputs. In our discussion, Kim and Mhairi explore the significance of shifting positionality for researchers with life experience,up close in the field, and the implications of working within teams where lived and learned forms of knowledge co-exist.
Mhairi – Hi Kim! Thanks so much for taking the time to get together to reflect on our methodology. As you know I’m really interested in how lived knowledge in research as a lone parent with longstanding experience of low income and navigating the benefits systems, as well as a university researcher. In the team, we’re really keen to explore best practice and how we approach designing and hosting participatory research that authentically merges forms of lived expertise with academic knowledge. Our Devolved Conversations follow a relatively new and experimental approach that centres the priorities of life experts at the heart of our study. I wonder what you have found the most challenging aspect of designing and delivering our Devolved Conversations to date?
Kim: I suppose the most challenging part has been the emotional impact of the sessions. Many of the stories parents share reflect experiences I’ve had myself, so they stay with me after the workshop ends. Working online helps bring people together across the UK, but it can feel really intense so a debrief really helps after heavy conversations that come up in our workshops. Balancing my lived experience with my role as a researcher is tricky, but it’s also what makes the work meaningful.
One session that was especially difficult for me was the workshop we ran on changes to disability benefits. I hadn’t realised how much personal worry I’d been carrying about it until I heard others voice the exact fears I’d been trying not to think about. Their honesty brought my own anxieties to the surface and holding that alongside my role as a researcher was challenging. Balancing my lived experience with my professional role can be tricky, but it’s also what makes this work so meaningful.
Mhairi: I relate so much to this story! Despite being one of the university research team, I’m also a lone parent and have been on universal credit since my children were born. I also often hear participants voicing fears that I have for my own family. I know that I’ve found some sessions harder than others, and in particular, our sessions on Crisis Support and Conditionality and Sanctions brought up some anger and sadness as I listened to the testimonies of parents struggling with really difficult circumstances and varying experiences across the four nations of the UK. So many of the stories participants share remind me of the struggles of my own family and friends.
In many ways, your experience in the workshop brings alive the difficulties we face as lived experience researchers navigating the emotional labour of this kind of research and the challenges of overlapping positionality and social identities as life experts and researchers. I know that my personal positionality has shifted in several ways over the past year as I’ve worked on the project and learned more about working in an authentically participatory team and devolving power in out study of devolved power! Why do you think reflecting on our positionality may be particularly important in a project like ours, where we work with parents who have similar experiences to ourselves, and academics who are often from contrasting socio-economic backgrounds?
Kim: My own experiences of navigating the benefits system as a parent are a big part of why I’m drawn to this work. Coming from a working-class background, I understand how important it is for people to feel that their voices are heard and respected, so I try to create a space where everyone feels comfortable to speak openly. My values around fairness, empathy and honesty guide how I facilitate. I’m always mindful that these conversations carry real weight, and I try to balance my lived experience with my role as a researcher.
To my mind, reflecting on positionality is especially important because many of the parents we work with have experiences similar to our own. That closeness can make it difficult to separate our own feelings from our role as researchers, so awareness helps us stay grounded and supportive. It also matters when working with university researchers who approach things from learned rather than lived experience. Acknowledging our diverse backgrounds helps us work together openly and ensure that all forms of knowledge are valued in the research.
Mhairi: I agree, and I think that being transparent and being comfortable about who we are helps increase the trustworthiness of our research. What have you learned about your own positionality, and how does our mixed knowledge base within Devolved Conversations ground our approach?
Kim: During the Devolved Conversations workshops, I’ve realised just how much my own experiences as a parent on a low-income influence how I listen, respond, and think about what people share in the workshops It can be so emotionally taxing to listen to stories of hardship from other parents, but being aware of this helps me stay present while conducting the research. I’ve also learned that research feels more substantial and more meaningful when lived experience and learned experience are treated equally. Thinking about positionality helps make sure our work is fair, transparent, and genuinely collaborative.
Mhairi: Thanks so much, Kim, it’s been brilliant to have this time together to consider our experiences as parents, researchers, and people with knowledge of living on a low income. I’m really grateful for the chance to work together and to be part of a team where lived and learned knowledge is both prized. So great to chat with you as always.
About the authors
Safety nets is a multi-institutional and inter-disciplinary research and policy team, comprised of academics from seven universities across all four UK nations (University of York, University of Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt University, University of Salford, University of Cardiff, Ulster University, Oxford University), and with policy partners, Resolution Foundation and Child Poverty Action Group.
This project has been funded by the Nuffield Foundation, but the views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily the Foundation.