Francesca Ribenfors

Dr Francesca Ribenfors is a Senior Research Associate in the Department of Social Care and Social Work at Manchester Metropolitan University and a member of the Learning Disabilities and Autism research cluster. She holds a PhD with a thesis critically analyzing transition to adulthood for young people with learning disabilities through feminist and critical disability studies frameworks.

Her research focuses on social care systems' impact on people with learning disabilities and autism, their families, and carers. Employing feminist epistemologies, critical disability studies, and new materialist approaches, she challenges normative foundations of health and social care processes while advocating for ethical, reflexive research practices that bridge theory and practice.

She currently leads multiple NIHR-funded projects: Witness to Harm, holding to account (improving Fitness to Practise proceedings experiences); Tired of Spinning Plates (mental health of carers of adults with learning disabilities); 200 Lives (evaluating supported living/residential care); and Exploring Inquests (coronial investigations involving learning disabilities/autism).

Francesca specializes in qualitative methods including ethnography and institutional ethnography, with strong commitments to research ethics and inclusive methodologies for vulnerable populations.