Dr Laetitia Coles

Researcher biography
Dr Laetitia Coles is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow within the Science of Learning Lab at the Queensland Brain Institute, led by Laureate Prof Karen Thorpe. Dr Coles is a mixed-methods researcher and is currently the lead in the Workforces component of the Thriving Queensland Kids Brain Builders Initiative. She has a strong commitment to research that helps improve understandings of gender, work, and care within the family and within the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) sector.
Dr Coles' research focuses on the ways in which gender, work and family policy, and work-place practices (a) frame concepts of care (b) underpin gendered labour supply within the ECEC setting, and (c) underpin and inform the decisions families make with regards to engagement in paid and unpaid labour, and has a passion for improving the working conditions of those who are caring for our youngest members of society.
Dr Coles has a strong and developing track record in research translation, including the development and delivery of reports for government and non-government organisations.
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.