Alison Tonkin looks after the Higher Education provision at Stanmore College, teaching and managing a range of courses linked to working with children and young people and healthcare for adults. She has a research background in health promotion with pre-school children and having worked as a diagnostic and therapeutic radiographer, the link between health and education is actively promoted. The importance of play and playfulness for health and wellbeing for children and adults alike is an area of particular interest, and together with Julia Whitaker, a number of publications have been written promoting the value of play in the field of health and public health through the life course.