In recent years, academics have shown interest in the phenomenon of intensive parenting, which has predominantly focussed on mothers as primary caregivers. In this paper we seek to move beyond approaches which invoke a maternal lens in order to consider fathers' experience of intensive parenting in relation to their lives with partners. Drawing on data from a qualitative longitudinal study of men over the transition to fatherhood we explore men's experiences of the benefits and challenges of an intensive parenting approach. Despite increased involvement in childcare, men appear to be relatively insulated against the demands of intensive parenting, describing the importance of autonomous decision-making over following expert advice. However, this paper considers the way in which other aspects of contemporary parenting may be experienced more intensively by men, pointing to gender differentiation in risks related to a moral parenthood identity.

Issues of time and change are foregrounded in qualitative longitudinal research (QLL 1) and are considered here in the context of contemporary fatherhood. From a wider sample of 46 men interviewed as part of the QLL Timescapes network, we draw on two case studies of men who became fathers for the first time in 2000. This article considers the men's relationship to involvement and the linked concepts of exclusion and redundancy, terms which emerged from the data and changed over time in the men's accounts. We seek to emphasise the value of QLL methods for providing a more complex understanding of the lived experience of life transitions and their longer-term implications, contrasting this with existing studies offering a 'snapshot' approach.

This article explores how unexpected life course events can potentially be experienced as problematic by challenging anticipated future trajectories. Using data from a qualitative longitudinal study of men interviewed about fatherhood, we consider four unanticipated events in the context of family formation which are variously experienced as propelling men forwards, imposing a pause, or regressing to a previous life course phase. In these situations time represents a threat to personal identity, challenging imagined futures and leading to altered behaviour in the present. These unexpected events appear to have a long-term impact on temporal awareness. By highlighting understandings of the future as a fundamental aspect of experience, we illustrate the importance of making time explicit as a tool for elucidating life course transitions.

Much has been made of the apparent trend towards men's greater involvement in fatherhood, suggesting moves towards more egalitarian couple relationships characterised by greater role-sharing. Yet alongside this it has also been argued that the breadwinner/provider role remains central to men's fatherhood identity and continues to be underlined by current policy. That providing apparently remains a central aspect of successful fatherhood subsequently raises potential challenges for men who experience unemployment. Presenting illustrative case study data from a qualitative longitudinal study, we explore how changes in occupational trajectories away from models of full-time working outside of the home hold implications for men's sense of competence or vulnerability, and how provider and involved carer positions are intertwined in men's fatherhood identities.

'We are a community [but] that takes a certain amount of energy': Exploring shared visions, social action, and resilience in place-based community-led energy initiatives. Environmental Science and Policy 2 'We are a community [but] that takes a certain amount of energy': Exploring shared visions, social action, and resilience in place-based community-led energy initiatives.In UK energy policy, community-led energy initiatives are increasingly being imbued with transformative power to facilitate low carbon transitions. The ways that such expectations for communities are manifesting in practice remains, however, relatively poorly understood. In particular, key conceptual developments in unpacking what constitutes 'community' that highlight the significance of 'place' along with important characteristics, such as shared visions, collective social action, and resilience, have yet to be comprehensively explored in the context of community-led energy initiatives. This paper uses an interpretive stance to engage with these conceptual ideas about community and provide insights into the nature of community and its meaning for developing energy-related initiatives and realising the wider goals of energy policy. The paper draws on data from in-depth qualitative, longitudinal interviews undertaken in two residential communities and one purely workplace-based community, which are engaged in community energy initiatives. We argue that there are difficulties and ambiguities in creating shared visions, achieving social action, and developing resilience that are related to the specificities of community in place, but that all three characteristics are likely to be important for the making of sustainable places.