Natalie is a former qualified social worker with experience in adult social care local authority settings including learning disabilities, hospital discharge and community adult teams. She is currently undertaking her PhD in the department of Social Work and Social Policy at the University of York. Her project is attached to the DETERMIND study which is researching quality of life and inequalities for people with dementia, looking specifically at the experiences of people who fund their own social care and how their family input affects this. Natalie is a seminar leader for first year students who are training to qualify on the Social Work integrated masters course at the University of York. She has also worked as a Research Associate on the PRESENCE study, looking at the preferences of self-funders navigating the care system. Her interests lie in older adults quality of life, dementia, learning disabilities, self-funders and practice-related issues of the social care workforce and social work training.