Professor Dr. Susan Golombok

Biography

Susan Golombok is Professor Emerita of Family Research and Director of the Centre for Family Research at the University of Cambridge. Her research focuses on the impact of new family forms on parenting and child development, particularly in relation to lesbian mother families, gay father families, single mothers, and families created through assisted reproductive technologies such as in vitro fertilisation (IVF), donor insemination, egg donation, and surrogacy. Golombok's work challenges widely held assumptions about families and contests traditional theories of child development, emphasizing that the quality of family relationships is more important to children's psychological wellbeing than structural aspects such as number, gender, identity, sexual orientation, and genetic relatedness of parents. She recently curated the exhibition 'Real Families: Stories Change' at the Fitzwilliam Museum, showcasing over 120 contemporary pieces that illuminate what makes a family in the modern world.

Research Interests