Margaret O’Brien is Professor of Child and Family Policy at the Thomas Coram Research Unit, University College London. She is a leading expert on fathers, parental leave and family life with a work-family policy focus. She has recently finished an EU funded project examining inequalities in access to parental leave across the EU-28

A current ESRC project examines COVID-19 recovery, resources and work-care strategies of parents with a child <5years in London. With Prof Ann-Zofie Duvander (University of Stockholm) she was the co-coordinator (2016-2021) of the International Network on Leave Policies and Research, a 45 country infrastructure project.