Laetitia Coles

Dr Laetitia Coles is a Research Fellow within the Child Development, Education and Care group at the Queensland Brain Institute, led by Laureate Prof Karen Thorpe. As a mixed-methods applied sociologist, she leads the Workforces component of the Thriving Queensland Kids Brain Builders Initiative (https://qbi.uq.edu.au/brain-builders) in support of the generation, translation, and application of knowledge from neurosciences into policy and practice, as well as leading the award-winning project entitled Families in Focus: Amplifying the voices of children with disability and their families (https://child-health-research.centre.uq.edu.au/event/5632/families-focus), in collaboration with Queensland Children's Hospital. She is committed to undertaking research that helps improve understandings of children’s care environments, with a specific focus on supporting those who care for and educate children. Dr Coles’ experience in multi-disciplinary research and in industry engagement underpins her strong track record in knowledge and research translation through both traditional and non-traditional research outputs.

Dr Coles completed her PhD in Sociology in 2020, looking at long work hours and fathers' engagement with children and caregiving – particularly focusing on the factors that facilitate participation in caregiving.