Dr Joan Walton is senior lecturer at York St John University in the School of Education, Languages and Psychology. She teaches on MA and EdD programmes, and supervises doctoral students. Her early career was as a social worker with children and families, and her research interests include developing knowledge that promotes the wellbeing and life-chances of young people. She is also committed to developing research methodologies that challenge limiting materialist worldviews, and offer more creative ways of understanding ourselves and the universe.