Directory of Staff Research Interests
David Abbott LLB, MSocSc, MPhil *
Reader in Social Policy
issues for disabled children and young people and
their families; making transitions to adulthood; multiagency working; disabled children living in residential
settings.
Sarah Ayres; BSc, PhD *
Senior Lecturer in Policy Studies
Public administration; governance; devolution and
decentralisation; English regionalism; economic
development.
Sue Baic; BSc, MSc *
Senior Teaching Fellow
Dietary interventions to reduce cardiovascular
disease and obesity; novel interventions to change
food purchasing behaviour.
Christine Barter; BSc *
Senior Research Fellow
Child protection; institutional abuse of children;
gender; peer violence; participatory research with
children and young people.
Nazand Begikhani
Senior Research Fellow
Domestic and gender-based violence especially
“honour” crimes.
Michaela Benson; PhD
Research Assistant
Middle class, lifestyle, migration, lifestyle migration,
geographic mobility, the rural, the urban.
Georgina Bentley; MSc
Physical Activity Facilitator
the impact of physical activity on depression in
patients in primary care.
David Berridge; BSc, PhD, DLitt, OBE *
Professor of Child and Family Welfare
Child and family welfare; foster and residential care
for children; children in need; adolescence; education
of children in care; educational disadvantage; special
education; peer violence; teenage dating violence.
Ailsa Cameron; BA, MSc *
Senior Lecturer
The emergence of new organisational models within
welfare services and the development of professional
roles. Health and social care interface, the housing
contribution to community care. Professional
boundaries, interprofessional and interagency
working. The evaluation of policy programmes.
Research ethics.
John Carpenter; BSc, CQSW, MA, C.Psychol,
AsFBPS, AcSS *
Professor of Social Work and Applied Social Science
Community mental health and learning disability
services; disabled children and families; family
therapy and family support services; outcomes of
social work and interprofessional education.
Sarah Cemlyn; BA, DSA, MA, CQSW, CASS
Senior Lecturer
Gypsies’ and Travellers’ rights and their experiences
of ‘welfare’; asylum policy and practice, and the
implications for social professionals; human rights
issues; community work/development.
Ashley Cooper; PhD *
Reader in Exercise and Health Science
Children's health and fitness; active travel;
environment and physical activity; type 2 diabetes;
measurement of physical activity.
Jo Coulson; MSc
Research Associate
Physical activity and mental health; physical activity
in the workplace; reducing environmental and
neighbourhood barriers to being physical active.
Laura Davis; BSc, MSc
Research Assistant
Children’s health; increasing levels of physical
activity
Mark Davis; MSc, MPhil
Lecturer
Measurement of physical activity, exercise and
hypertension.
Gary Bridge; MA, DPhil *
Professor of Urban Studies
Social theory and the city; rationality; pragmatism;
time and space and the city; gentrification; class and
space; neighbourhood dynamics.
* staff member can offer PhD supervision
www.bristol.ac.uk/sps
Kevin Doogan; MA, PhD *
Senior Lecturer
Job insecurity and the 'new economy', mobility,
flexibility and industrial relations at different spatial
levels from the local economy to the European
Union. European integration, state and society, EU
policymaking.
Daryl Dugdale; BA, DipSW, PQSW, AASW
Teaching Fellow
Working with fathers where risk is present;
safeguarding, assessment and inter-professional
training.
Eldin Fahmy; BA, MSc, PGCE, PhD *
Lecturer
Poverty and social exclusion; fuel poverty; rural
poverty; area-based initiatives, social inclusion and
anti-poverty policy; participation and community
governance; youth, citizenship and exclusion.
Elaine Farmer; BA, PhD, DSA, CQSW *
Professor of Child and Family Studies
Child protection; neglect; looking after sexually
abused and abusing children away from home; foster
care; reunification; kinship care; linking and matching
in adoption.
Ray Forrest; MSocSci, PhD *
Professor of Urban Studies
Urban sociology; urban political economy; housing
markets and housing policy; social policy; East Asia.
Ken Fox; BSc, PGCE, MSc, PhD, DSc (Hon),
FFPH *
Professor of Exercise and Health Science
Physical activity and public health, exercise and
mental health; exercise and the elderly; young people
and physical activity; self-esteem psychology;
physical education and health.
John Franey; BEd, BA, MEd, EdD, CPsychol,
AFBPsS *
DEd. Psy Programme Director
Leadership and management in local authorities;
ethics in professional practice; school based multi
agency group work.
Geetanjali Gangoli; BA, MA, MPhil, PhD *
Lecturer
Gender and violence, domestic violence and forced
marriage in South Asian communities in the UK;
prostitution and trafficking in South Asia; domestic
violence and young people's experience of violence
within the home in China.
* staff member can offer PhD supervision
David Gordon; BSc, PhD *
Professor of Social Justice
Social and distributional justice; social harm;
scientific measurement of poverty and social
exclusion; child poverty and human rights; childhood
disability; fuel poverty; crime and poverty; area-based
anti-poverty measures; the causal effects of poverty
on ill health; rural poverty.
Rob Green BSc, MSc
Professional Tutor
Assessment, learning and intervention; psychological
dimensions of interpersonal communication;
dimensions of social and emotional development;
multi-agency working.
Pippa Griew; MSc
Research Assistant
The influence of the school environment on children’s
physical activity.
Anne Haase; PhD *
Senior Lecturer
Psychology and intergenerational transmission of
health behaviours (physical activity and eating in
families and individuals), Theory-based behaviour
change interventions; Physical activity and mental
health; body image, self-presentation, eating
disorders and obesity.
Gill Hague; BSc, PhD, DSA, CQSW
Professorial Research Fellow in Violence against
Women
Gender and violence; domestic violence;
international approaches to combating violence
against women (eg. in Africa and South Asia);
disability and abuse; social work professional
training; early childhood studies; women's studies;
family policy.
Carmel Hand; BSc, PGCE, MScEd Psych
Assistant Principal Educational Psychologist/Senior
Educational Psychologist
Inclusion and participation; special educational
needs.
Lorna Henry; PhD
Research Associate
The state and 'the family', child neglect, gender
inequality, gender and child welfare, the sociology of
social work practice, research methods, research
ethics, service user views.
Pauline Heslop; BSc, PhD, RGN, RSCN *
Senior Research Fellow
General health-related issues; mental health and
related issues; Transition from children’s to adults
services; Short-break services and supports; Poverty
and social disadvantage.
www.bristol.ac.uk/sps
Marianne Hester; MA, PhD *
Professor in Gender, Violence & International Policy
Comparative and transnational research on gender
and violence; perspectives on violence against
women and children in the UK, Denmark and China;
domestic violence perpetrators; domestic violence in
same sex relationships; child contact and domestic
violence; prostitution and sexual exploitation.
Misa Izuhara; BA, MA, PhD *
Senior Lecturer
Housing and urban/social change; family change and
social policy; ageing and intergenerational relations;
housing assets and inheritance; East Asian social
policy; cross-national comparative studies.
Russ Jago; PhD *
Reader in Exercise, Nutrition & health
Physical activity and obesity interventions in youth,
measurement of physical activity and sedentary
behaviour, determinants of physical activity and
eating behaviour.
Kelley Johnson; BA, Dip Ed, MA, PhD *
Professor of Disability Policy and Practice
Rights and disability; deinstitutionalization; inclusion
of people with learning disabilities in the community;
sexuality and relationships; social change; bullying
and people with learning disabilities; inclusive
research; life history
Sue Jones; PhD
Research Associate
Domestic abuse and violence, male and female
victims and perpetrators: parents and early years
groups: attractions and barriers to service use.
Patricia Kennett; BSc, PhD *
Reader
Comparative, cross-national social policy;
globalization, governance and public policy; welfare
systems and citizenship in Europe and East Asia;
housing and homelessness.
Sue Kilroe; BA, RMN, RGN, Dip Agric
Lecturer
Health and social care provision and practice; ‘looked
after’ children policy and practice; interprofessional
practice in mental health.
Anne Knight-Elliott; BSc, Med, EdD, CPsychol
Professional Tutor
Frameworks for understanding team cultures and the
implications for multi-agency working.
Joan Langan; BA, MA, MSW, CQSW
Senior Lecturer
Mental health law, policy and practice; risk
assessment and risk management; service user
involvement, particularly in risk assessment and
management; Mental capacity law and policy.
Practice issues in relation to people with
compromised decision-making capacity. The impact
of the Deprivation of Liberty safeguards on human
rights and care practice.
Rachel Lart; BA, PhD *
Senior Lecturer
Drug misuse policy and services. Mental health and
marginalised groups, eg. offenders, drug users.
General health and social care policy. Evidence
based policy and practice.
Liz Lloyd; BSc, PhD, CQSW *
Senior Lecturer in Social Gerontology
Ageing; health and social care policies and practices
with older people; social aspects of death, dying and
bereavement; policies on unpaid care; the health and
well-being of carers.
Patricia Lucas; BA, PhD *
Lecturer
Early childhood development; educational, nutritional
and social interventions and outcomes for children;
child disability, poverty and deprivation, and
inequalities in health.
Eleanor Lutman; BSc
Research Associate
Kinship care; neglect; child protection; the
reunification of looked after children with their parents
and foster and residential care for children.
Kyle Macdonald-Wallis
Research Assistant
Exercise, nutrition and health sciences
Anna Marriott; BA, MSc
Research Associate
Health care for people with learning disabilities;
dementia and learning disability; human rights of
people with learning disabilities; sexuality and
relationships
Alex Marsh; BSc, MSocSci *
Professor of Public Policy
Housing policy, economics and finance; theorizing
the policy process; economics, organisation and
management in the public sector.
Adele Laing; PhD
Research Associate
Disability, inclusion and empowerment.
* staff member can offer PhD supervision
www.bristol.ac.uk/sps
Melanie McCarry; BA, MPhil, PhD *
Lecturer
Violence against women; gendered interpersonal
violence; young people and interpersonal violence;
forced marriage; masculinity; constructions of
gender, feminist ideology and methodology; research
ethics; participatory research with children and young
people.
Jade McNeill; BSc, MSc
Fieldworker
Exercise, nutrition and health sciences
Shailen Nandy; BA, MSc, PhD
Research Associate
Child poverty; undernutrition; poverty measurement;
international development; health inequalities and
survey analysis.
Angie Page, PhD *
Senior Lecturer
Childhood obesity; exercise and self-esteem;
measurement of physical activity; clustering of health
behaviours, developmental aspects of eating and
exercise behaviour
Christina Pantazis; BA, MA
Senior Lecturer
Social harm, crime and criminalisation; poverty,
social exclusion and inequality; security and civil
liberties.
Demi Patsios; BA, MA, PhD
Senior Research Fellow
The health and social care of older people; long-term
and community care; cross-national comparisons of
ageing policy; poverty and social exclusion of older
people and pensioners.
Sarah Payne; BA, PhD *
Professor in Health Policy and Gender
Sex and gender inequalities in health, gender
aspects of health care use and service delivery;
gender equity in health, gender mainstreaming;
poverty, social exclusion and health, particularly
mental health.
Simon Pemberton; LLB, MA, PhD *
Lecturer
State and corporate harm; criminalisation; human
rights; poverty and social justice.
Dendy Platt; MA, PGCE, PhD, DipSW, CQSW *
Senior Lecturer
Social worker's assessments of children and families;
children on the child protection register; social
worker's decision-making; working in partnership with
families and social work education.
Hilary Saunders; MA
Research Associate
Adoption and fostering.
Swantje Schmidt; BSc, MSc
Research Assistant
European health policy, health care systems and
financing, health determinants and child health
policy.
Sam Scott; BA, PhD, PGHCE
Research Fellow
Immigration; emigration; low-paid work; forced
labour; skill mobility; food industry; workplace
regulation/deregulation; migrant labour markets.
Simon Sebire; BSc, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Assistant
Exercise, nutrition and health sciences
Julie Selwyn; BA, CQSW, DASS, MSc (Econ),
PhD *
Reader
Adoption and fostering; permanency policy and
practice; the costs of care; sibling relationships.
Ann Singleton; BA, MA *
Senior Research Fellow
International migration, asylum and human rights in
the European Union; the use of migration research
and statistics in European Union policy development;
labour migration; international migrants in the SouthWest of England; trafficking of human beings;
migration as crime.
Randall Smith; BA
Honorary Professorial Research Fellow
Community care policies and practices; policies for
older people.
Jo Staines; BSc, MA, PhD
Teaching Fellow
Youth justice, the interface between the criminal
justice and care systems, fostering adolescents, the
criminalisation of children and childhood, and
restorative justice interventions
Eileen Sutton; BA, MSc, PhD
Research Associate
Poverty, social exclusion, health inequalities, ageing
and health, end of life care, provision of
complementary and alternative medicine in state
health care
David Sweeting; BA, MSc, PhD
Lecturer in Urban Studies
Local governance; local political leadership; citizen
engagement and comparative urban governance.
Sue Porter, PhD
Research Fellow
Disability, inclusion and empowerment.
* staff member can offer PhD supervision
www.bristol.ac.uk/sps
Beth Tarleton; BSc, PGCE, MPhil
Research Fellow
Inclusive research and the development of
accessible information; improving policy and practice
in supporting parents with learning difficulties.
Janice Thompson *
Professor of Public Health Nutrition
Nutrition, physical activity and public health. Lifestyle
behaviour and diabetes. Health in socially
disadvantaged groups.
Ruth Townsley; BA, PhD *
Senior Research Fellow
Empowerment and social justice for disabled
children, family carers and adults with learning
disabilities.
William Turner; BSc, MSc, PhD
Lecturer
Practice and outcome evaluation in social policy;
psychotherapeutic approaches in working with young
people; gender identity and development in children
& young people; research synthesis and systematic
reviews in child mental health and child welfare
programmes.
Danielle Turney; BA, PhD, MSW/CQSW
Senior Lecturer in Social Work
Child welfare and protection; child neglect;
relationship-based practice; theorising antioppressive and anti-racist practice in social work.
Paula Vaisey; BSc, MSc
Research Associate
Kinship care, wellbeing, positive psychology, child
and adolescent mental health.
Dinithi Wijedasa; BA, MSc
Research Associate
Adoption and foster care; developmental screening
and early intervention; psychosocial development of
children; child development in culture and context;
research methods.
Val Williams; BA; MEd; PhD *
Senior Research Fellow
Inclusive research: including disabled people as
active researchers; analysing naturally-occurring
communication.
Emma Williamson; BA, PG Dip, PhD *
Research Fellow
Violence against women in all its manifestations;
gender inequality; domestic violence and health;
professional interventions and state responses to
victims and perpetrators of gendered violence;
research ethics; research methods.
Elizabeth Wilson; Dip in Social Sciences, CQSW,
Cert in Counselling, Dip in Management of
Training
Lecturer
Child care/child protection - skills in family work; antidiscriminatory policies and practices, particularly antiracism and its impact on black and minority ethnic
individuals and communities; gender issues relative
to training and development in local government and
voluntary sector.
Marsha Wood; BA, MSc
Research Associate
Interpersonal violence in young people’s
relationships; disadvantaged groups; adoption and
fostering; ethnicity.
Linda Ward; BSc, PhD, OBE *
Professor of Disability and Social Policy
Learning difficulties and disability; equal
opportunities; ethical issues; accessible information;
advocacy; support to disabled children and their
families (especially at transition); support for parents
with learning disabilities and their children, human
rights.
Debbie Watson; BSc (Ed), PhD *
Senior Lecturer in Childhood Studies
Theorising social exclusion, identity and child wellbeing; children’s social and emotional learning;
assessment of performance; inter-professional
working and professional identities; interpretive and
creative research methods.
Kate White; BSc, PhD
Research Assistant
Ageing and retirement; the transition from full-time
work to full-time retirement; the work/life balance;
policies on ageing; ageing and end of life care; the
transition from self-reliance to dependence on others
in later life.
* staff member can offer PhD supervision
www.bristol.ac.uk/sps