Professor Anne Barlow: The Shackleton relationships project

The Challenges of Enduring Love and the Shackleton Project Whilst the secret of everlasting love has up until now proved elusive, this alumna-funded empirical research project was set up to consider how the incidence of relationship breakdown could be reduced through better understanding of the ingredients of successful long-lasting relationships alongside the what we know about the common causes of divorce. Using an analytical framework developed from Gottman’s sound relationship house, this project is seeking to understand whether this applies in and beyond marriage. In its last phase, it is seeking to work with school students on how any findings emerging from the project can be engagingly disseminated to older children through an app or game. The paper will also explore the data collection methods adopted and also engage with the challenges of working with untraditional research funding and an interdisciplinary research agenda.