Faculty

Directors

Margaret O'Brien (BSc, PhD, DipClinPsych) is Professor in Child and Family Studies in the School of Psychology and Co-Director of the Centre. Her research interests are in the role of fathers in families, workplaces and family policies.

Gillian Schofield (BA, MA, CQSW, MSW, PhD) is Professor of Child and Family Social Work and Co-Director of the Centre. Her research interests are in attachment, care planning, long-term foster care, and looked after children and offending.

Faculty

Chris Beckett (BSc, CQSW, MA, PhD) is a Senior Lecturer in Social Work, teaching on the qualifying social work programmes and the post-qualifying leadership and management programme. He has research interests in court proceedings concerning children, perceptions of risk, and the use and abuse of language.

Laura Biggart (BSc, PhD) is a Lecturer in Social Sciences Research. Her research interests are in work-life balance, Emotional Intelligence, and youth offending.

Marian Brandon (BA, MA, CQSW, PhD) is a Reader in Social Work and Director of the Post-Qualifying Child Care Programmes. She is a childcare specialist and has research interests in childcare, family support and child protection.

Sara Connolly (BA, PhD) is a Reader in Personnel Economics in the Norwich Business School. Her research covers a range of public and social policy issues and has worked with Centre members on funded research on children’s services.

Neil Cooper (BSc, PhD) is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology with research interests in the interplay between biological and social discourse in reproductive technology and designer babies.

Jeanette Cossar (BA, MA, DipSW) is a Lecturer in Social Work and is currently working on the Adoption Support project.

Jonathan Dickens (BA, MA, CQSW, MSc, PhD) is a Senior Lecturer in Social Work and Director of Postgraduate Research. His research interests include child care law and the development of social work in its wider social policy and international contexts. Jonathan is the author of two essential text books for qualifying and post-qualifying level social workers, both published by Routledge: Social Work and Social Policy: An Introduction (2010), and Social Work, Law and Ethics (2013).

Jane Dodsworth (BA, MA, PhD, CQSW) is a Lecturer is Social Work with a particular research interest in child protection and child sexual exploitation.

Simon Hammond (BA, MSc, PhD) is a lecturer in Psychology. His research interests stem from his time as a residential worker in a young person’s care home and his fascination at the emerging possibilities digital technologies offer contemporary society.

Kamena Henshaw (BSc, MSc) is a lecturer in Psychology.   Her research interest is in applying psychological knowledge to real life settings, particularly in relation to family psychology.  Her PhD has explored the role of the family meal in family life from a multi-person perspective (interviewing fathers, mothers and young people).

Elsbeth Neil (BSc, MA, DipSW, PhD) is a Senior Lecturer in Social Work and has particular research interests in contact after adoption, post adoption support for birth and adoptive families, and services to support post adoption contact.

Gavin Nobes (BSc, PhD) is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology, with research interests in children's moral, social and cognitive development, families and child physical abuse. His research site is: https://sites.google.com/site/rgavinnobes/

Vicky Scaife (BA, MSc, PhD, C.Psychol, AFBPsS) is a Lecturer in Psychology. Her research interests focus on the relationship between substance misuse and aspects of family life, gender issues in relation to parental substance misuse, professional perceptions of parental substance misusers, and young people's substance use decision-making.

Judi Walsh (BSc, PhD, C.Psychol., AFBPsS) is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology and has research interests in relational processes and psychological well-being. Website: www.judiwalsh.net

Emeritus Faculty

Ann McDonald (LLB, MA, CQSW) is an Emeritus Professor. Her research interests include social work law, relationships between the NHS and Social Services, and the development of community care.

David Howe (BSc, MA, CQSW, PhD) is an Emeritus Professor. His research interests are in attachment theory, post-adoption work, developing social work theory and practice, child abuse, neglect, rejection and trauma.

Clive Sellick (JP, CQSW, MSW, PhD) is Emeritus Reader in Social Work. His research interests are in commissioning and the mixed economy of foster care provision, and the international aspects of child welfare.

June Thoburn CBE (BA, DipPSA, MSW, LittD) is an Emeritus Professor of Social Work and founding Director of the Centre. Her research interests are in family placement, and the family support and child protection provisions of the Children Act 1989.