Lyudmila Nurse is Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Education at the University of Oxford, and Research Director of Oxford XXI think tank. Maggie O’Neill is Professor in Sociology and Criminology and Director of the Institute for Social Sciences in the 21st Century and UCC Futures: Collective Social Futures at University College Cork.Lisa Moran is Dean of Graduate Studies and Head of the Graduate School at the Technological University of the Shannon.

• Overview: Theorising the New Social Futures through the Lens of the Past.Part I Facing the New Turn in Biographical Research: Methodological Adaptations to the New Social ContextChapter 1. Creative Applications of Biographical Research: Time–Space Interactions in Walking Biographical Methods – Maggie O’Neill and Lyudmila NurseChapter 2. Touching from a Distance: Gaining Intimacy with Research Participants during the COVID-19 Pandemic – Ana Caetano, Magda Nico, Anabela Pereira and Sónia Bernardo CorreiaChapter 3. Collaborative (Auto)ethnography (CAE) for Researching (in) New Social Contexts: Reflections from COVID-19 Lockdown Times in Europe – Lisa Moran and Kateřina Sidiropulu-JankůChapter 4. Technological Mediation of Biographical Research and Its Risks – Jerzy StachowiakPart II Creative, Inter-disciplinary and Comparative ApproachesChapter 5. Walking New Horizons for Critically Reflexive Pedagogy and Research- Jerry O’NeillChapter 6. The ‘New Normal’ for Oral History? Challenge and Opportunities of Interviewing During the Global Pandemic and Its Aftermath – Jakub GałęziowskiChapter 7. Relations Between Biographical Dispositions and Teaching Strategies of Computer Science Teachers During Lockdown: Application of Triangulation in Biographical Research – Andre EppPart III the Multidimensionality of Vulnerability and Risk in Biographical Research: Ethics, Vulnerabilities and TraumaChapter 8. Sharing Biographical Vulnerabilities in the Focus Group Setting: Building Solidarities, De-individualising Racism and Protective Silences-Tamsin Barber and Diana YehChapter 9. Revising the Researcher’s “Borders”: The Narrator Demands Expansion of the Researcher’s “Presence” in Storytelling – Oksana ŽabkoChapter 10. – Research Opportunities and Challenges During COVID-19 – The Case of Volunteer Firefighters – Fabienne Seifert (Germany)Chapter 11. Challenging Inequalities with Critical Biographical Research Methods – Ciara Bradley & Lynsey KavanaghEpilogue: Biographical Futures: Responding to the New Challenges – Lyudmila Nurse, Maggie O’Neill & Lisa Moran

“Offering a new lens on the growing literature of biographical research, this book forces us to ask ourselves what living through a pandemic teaches us about exploring the lives of others, especially those who are ‘vulnerable’ and/or ‘at risk’.“ Molly Andrews, Association for Narrative Research and Practice