Maria Cheshire-Allen
PhD Student
Deconstructing Wellbeing in the context of family care
Maria completed a BSc in Philosophy and Sociology at Swansea University and subsequently worked for several non-governmental organisations in Wales. Maria worked for Age Cymru for five years where she lead policy and campaigns relating to older people’s equality and human rights issues. During this time she completed a Master’s degree in Equality and Diversity at Cardiff University.
Maria moved to the Welsh Local Government Association in 2007 to work as a Policy Officer for New Communities, advising local and national government on issues relating to asylum seekers, refugees and migrants. In 2010, she moved to the Centre for Innovative Ageing at Swansea University and have held various research roles, most recently as a Researcher for the Centre for Ageing and Dementia Research.
Maria’s PhD research focuses on family carers and the concept of ‘wellbeing’. The PhD aims to deconstruct the concept of wellbeing and asks critical questions of its application within social care policy to older family carers, who provide the majority of unpaid family care work for ageing and sick family members.
Drawing upon critical feminist perspectives, a theoretical framework for the analysis of wellbeing within older family care will be developed and applied to the policy context in Wales, grounding the conceptual analysis at a population and policy level.
Supervisory team
Dr Gideon Calder
Professor Vanessa Burholt