Our research
High quality evidence underpins all our work.
We work hard to gather and reflect on empirical research about fathers and fatherhood in the UK and overseas. Our unique, systematically compiled library of peer-reviewed academic research and related literature allows us to identify what IS known about our subject, and also to focus on identifying important research gaps. This helps us to influence new research, including secondary analyses of existing datasets and enhancements to ongoing studies.
This evidence base underpins all the Fatherhood Institute's training, consultancy and policy advocacy work; our work identifying, developing and trialling father-inclusive interventions; our publications for professionals (including book chapters, journal articles, research summaries and reviews, and policy briefings); and our publications aimed at parents.
​We are also thought leaders in the use of 'dad data' to improve the quality of research, policy and practice. Read more in this blog for the UK Data Service.
Access our Nuffield Foundation funded Contemporary Fathers in the UK series: rigorously researched but accessibly written themed reports
As well as the below funded research partnerships, we have undertaken many other research projects - check out our resources for professionals for more
Our fatherhood research library
Our fatherhood research library, developed as part of the Contemporary Fathers in the UK project, is a unique resource, systematically created through searches of eleven bibliographic databases and a systematic reference screening process.
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The library, held in Endnote software, is continuously updated with new research as this is published: it holds thousands of records about fathers, fatherhood and inter parental relationships in the UK, together with related policy and practice documents published from 1998 onwards. International research reviews, methodology papers, and publications relating to genetics and epigenetics are also included.
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We offer bibliographic outputs from the library - learn more by clicking below (see page 6)​
Research partnerships
Generation New Era (previously called the Early Life Cohort) is a new and exciting scientific study led by the Centre for Longitudinal Studies at University College London which will track babies through their childhood - the first UK-wide birth cohort study in 25 years.
The Fatherhood Institute's role is to advise on 'dad-data' and how to maximise father recruitment and retention for the two funded waves of data collection at ages 9-11 months and 3-4 years.
Generation New Era (2025 onwards)
Fathers for Change adaptation (2024-25)
We worked with the Behavioural Insights Team, St Michael’s Fellowship and Professor Carla Smith Stover, to adapt the Fathers for Change intervention for the UK.
F4C-UK is a trauma-informed therapeutic programme for 'standard risk' fathers who have used violence or abusive behaviours.
The UK adaptation, which complies with Home Office perpetrator programme guidelines, includes manuals defining separate but complementary pathways - including a range of validated assessment tools - for fathers and mothers. This work was funded by Foundations.
This important new research study, managed by the National Centre for Social Research and funded by the Department for Education, will follow young people in England as they go through school, and beyond. Participating families and schools will contribute to research looking at the experiences of young people in home and school environments, and will help influence the future development of schools and other services for young people and their families.
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The Fatherhood Institute's role is to advise the research team on father inclusion and fatherhood issues.
Education and Outcomes Panel Study (2023 onwards)
Transition to Parenthood in SMEs (2022-25)
Most research on the experiences of pregnancy or parenthood and employment focuses on large firms, and thereby excludes the experiences of the majority of employers and employees who become parents both in the UK and globally.
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The T2P study, led by Middlesex University Business School and funded by UKRI's Transforming Working Lives Programme of the ESRC, examined how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs, 1-249 staff) manage their businesses and staffing when their employees (both mothers and fathers) become parents.
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We were a Co-Investigator on the study, providing support to maximise engagement with fathers as participants, and father-inclusive approaches to data collection, analysis and research outputs. Check out the T2P Toolkit here.
ISAFE (Improving Safeguarding through Audited Father Engagement) is a learning package we developed with support from CASCADE (the Children’s Social Care Research & Development Centre at Cardiff University).
We delivered ISAFE to seven English local authorities in a randomised controlled trial funded by Foundations. This found that the programme brought significant improvements to social worker confidence and competence in engaging with fathers.
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Improving Safeguarding through Audited Father Engagement (2022-24)
Paternal Involvement & its Effects on Children's Education (2021-23)
The PIECE study, a collaboration with Leeds University Business School funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, explored the relationship between fathers’ childcare involvement and children’s educational outcomes as they progressed through primary school.
We found that fathers’ childcare involvement has a unique and important effect on the educational outcomes of children that is over and above the effect of the mothers’ involvement.
We made recommendations for how Government, employers, early years settings and primary schools could better support father-involvement, and produced accessible resources for schools/early years settings, and for families.
Find further PIECE resources and press here
GenderEYE was an ESRC-funded collaboration between Lancaster University School of Education, the Fatherhood Institute, and Norway’s Queen Maud University College of Early Childhood Education (QMUC). The study included quantitative and qualitative research to explore the extent and impact of male-inclusive approaches to early years workforce recruitment and retention.
The Fatherhood Institute led impact activities including creating a toolkit for early years managers, and training workshops.
Gender Diversification in Early Years Education (2018-20)
