Julia Brannen has been a researcher at the Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education and Society since 1982 and in the early 1990s was made a Reader and then Professor. Throughout this time, she has raised funding for research in the field of family life including from government, ESRC and from the EU. She was a co-founder of The International Journal of Social Research Methodology, that she coedited for 17 years.

Peter Moss is Emeritus Professor of Early Childhood Provision at UCL Institute of Education, University College London. He has researched and written on many subjects including early childhood education and care, and the relationship between early childhood and compulsory education; the relationship between employment, care and gender; and democracy in education. Much of his work has been cross-national, and he has led a European Commission network on childcare and an international network on parental leave.