I am a Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Work and Social Policy.  I joined the University after completing a PhD exploring the transition from childhood to adulthood for young people with learning disabilities at the University of Glasgow.  Much of my teaching and research interests focus on the area of adult social care, with a particular interest in learning disability and mental health and I have successfully published and generated income in this field.  My work focuses on the citizenship and human rights of marginalised groups and I am committed to working in partnership with people with lived experience as peer researchers.  I am skilled in the use of inclusive, creative and participatory research methods.

I am programme lead on the Postgraduate Certicate in Mental Health Social Work and am committed to ensuring our students have an excellent learning and teaching experience during their time on the programme.  I also coordinate the service user and carer network in the School in partnership with colleagues at Glasgow Caledonian University.  The network has a remit to influence all aspects of teaching and education across our social work programmes and has involvement in relation to selection, teaching and assessment as well as course monitoring and review.

I am Director of Knowledge Exchange for the Department of Social Work and Social Policy and I strive to promote the excellent and innovative work that takes place across our Department.  I have a particular focus on supporting the development of continuous professional development, conferences and consultancy opportunities.   I am a member of the Departmental Leadership team and sit on the Departmental Management Committee, Learning and Teaching Committee and the Research and Knoweldge Exchange committe.  I contibute to the strategic development of the Department with a particular focus on research and knowledge exchange impact.  

I have a strong commitment to promoting equality, diversity and inclusion and also sit on the Departmental Gender, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee.  I lead on our successful Athena Swan Bronze Award and am currently leading on the implementation of our Departmental Action Plan.

My research interests lie primarly in the field of adult social care and the bulk of my work involves people with learning disabilities as well as those with mental health problems.  I have particular interests in the areas of citizenship, parenthood and transitions for people with learning disabilities and have completed a number of different research projects in these areas.  I am also interested in the ways in which different kinds of support (both formal and informal) can enable older adults, people with mental health problems and those with learrning disabilities to maintain their independence.  

I also have an interest in evidence based learning and teaching practice within social work and have been involved in a number of programmes that have evaluated social work education including the Department of Health funded evaluation of the social work degree in England and the ESRC funded audit of research teaching across social work programmes in the UK.

I am commited to carrying out inclusive research that has impact both within academia and across policy and practice.

Has expertise in:

• adult social care 
• work with people with learning disabilities 
• work with people with mental health problems including issues around recovery 
• citizenship and human rights
• parenting, reproductive rights and gender based violence
• social work education

I teach across the qualifying social work programmes (the BA (Hons) in Social Work and the Masters in Social Work) as well as on the specialist Postgraduate Certificate in Mental Health Social Work.  I also contribute specialist teaching across a number of Social Policy programmes offered by the Department.  The bulk of my teaching focuses on adult social care and in particular, issues for people with learning disabilities, those with mental health problems and older adults including those with dementia.  I also have an interest in sociology and social policy and in particular working with students to explore the applicability of these disciplines to social work.  I  co-ordinate and teach the research methods and dissertations modules on the BA programme  and contribute to other research teaching across the School.

MA Social Policy and Sociology (First class hons), University of Glasgow

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Glasgow