Research in the Department of Social Work and Social Care

Overview: Our research explores, critically analyses, and evaluates practice, policy, and systems related to statutory child and family social work, which includes child protection and safeguarding, as well as non-statutory social care services designed for children, young people, their families and carers.

Highlights: For decades we have been at the forefront of the developments within the profession, such as leading the National Evaluation of the Children’s Fund, contributing to the Munro review of Child Protection, and developing projects and undertaking evaluations within the Department for Education’s Children's Social Care Innovation Programme.

Our work has investigated practice and produced groundbreaking publications that have shaped the discipline, such as:

• Making Child Protection Work by Harry Ferguson 
• Pride and Shame in Child and Family Social Work by Matthew Gibson, 
• Reassessing Attachment Theory in Child Welfare by Sue White, Matthew Gibson, David Wastell, and Patricia Walsh 
• Re-imagining Child Protection by Brid Featherstone, Sue White, and Kate Morris 

Overview: Our research explores, critically analyses, and evaluates practice, policy, and systems related to adult social work and social care, including leadership, strengths ‑ and community‑based approaches, and the involvement of people with lived experience. We work collaboratively with practitioners, communities, and the Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise sector to build capacity and improve adult social care and wellbeing.

Highlights: We are at the forefront of the developments within adult social care and social work, such as through IMPACT, the UK centre for implementing evidence in adult social care, evaluating the role of Adult Principal Social Workers and evaluating community led support.

Our work has investigated organisations, systems, policies, and practices and we have produced groundbreaking publications that have shaped the discipline, such as:

Glasby, J 2026, Understanding Health and Social Care (Fourth edition). 4th ed, Policy Press.

Miller, R, Mangan, C, Dickinson, H & Jackson, C 2025, International Research Handbook of Leadership in Social Work & Social Care. Elgar Handbooks on Social Work, Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.

Miller, R & Mahesh, S (eds) 2025, Strengths-Based Practice in Adult Social Work and Social Care. 1st ed, Routledge.

Glasby, J., & Tew, J. (2015). Mental health policy and practice. Bloomsbury Publishing. 

Glasby, J. (Ed.). (2011). Evidence, policy and practice: Critical perspectives in health and social care (Vol. 540). Policy Press. 

Tew, J. (2002). Social theory, power and practice. Springer.

The Adult Social Work and Social Care Research group feeds into the larger adult social care research cluster within the University of Birmingham.

Overview: Our research examines how social work and social care are taught and learned across qualifying and post‑qualifying education and practice. We develop and evaluate innovative, evidence-informed pedagogies that support students and practitioners to build professional judgement, ethics, reflexivity and relationship-based practice, including through digital, immersive and simulation-based approaches.

Our work also explores assessment and feedback practices, placement learning, and how education can better address equality, diversity and inclusion to prepare the future workforce.

Highlights: Our pedagogy research is closely connected to our teaching, practice learning and continuing professional development. We have particular strengths in relationship-based and experiential learning designs, reflective pedagogies, communication skills development, and the use of digital and immersive technologies to support authentic learning and knowledge exchange.

• Cooner, T.S. (2024) Creating sensory-rich experiences to convey qualitative research messages: using 360-degree video as part of an experiential relationship-based practice learning design, Social Work Education, 43(8), 2340–2356. 
• Reith-Hall, E., & Montgomery, P. (2022). The Teaching and Learning of Communication Skills in Social Work Education. Research on Social Work Practice, 32(7), 793-813. 
• Cooner, T. S., Knowles, A., & Stout, B. (2016). Creating a Mobile App to Teach Ethical Social Media Practices. Social Work Education, 35(3), 245–259. 
• Knowles, A. J., & Cooner, T. S. (2016). International Collaborative Learning Using Social Media to Learn about Social Work Ethics and Social Media. Social Work Education, 35(3), 260–270. 
• Cooner, T.S. (2014) Using Facebook to Explore Boundary Issues for Social Workers in a Networked Society: Students' Perceptions of Learning, The British Journal of Social Work, Volume 44, Issue 4, June 2014, Pages 1063–1080
• Cooner, T. S. (2011). Learning to Create Enquiry-based Blended Learning Designs: Resources to Develop Interdisciplinary Education. Social Work Education, 30(3), 312–330. 

Overview: Our research brings together practice‑focused and interdisciplinary research examining how migration, asylum and bordering regimes shape people’s lives and social work responses in the UK and internationally.

Grounded in social justice, human rights and anti‑oppressive approaches, this work explores the ethical, legal and practical challenges faced by social workers and social care practitioners working with migrant children, families and communities.

Highlights: Research within the theme addresses issues including no recourse to public funds (NRPF), food insecurity and poverty, child welfare and protection, unaccompanied asylum‑seeking children, sexual and gender‑based violence in contexts of displacement, diaspora and transnationalism, and the experiences of migrant and internationally recruited social workers.

A strong emphasis is placed on practice‑near, participatory and policy‑engaged research, developed in collaboration with people with lived experience, practitioners, local authorities and voluntary sector organisations. Together, this body of work seeks to inform ethical practice, challenge exclusionary policies, and contribute to more just and humane social work and social care systems.

• Hadwin, D. and Singh, G., (2025). Social work with unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and young people: Resisting the rhetoric. Critical and Radical Social Work, 13(1), pp.95-111. 
• Minh, D. Bradbury-Jones, C., Thomas, S., Rinaldi-Semione, J., Wright, N., Brotherton, V., Esiovwa, N., Barrow, J. and Johannes, K. (2023) Placing survivor wellbeing on the policy and evidence map (PDF 1.5MB). London: Modern Slavery & Human Rights Policy & Evidence Centre.
• Chogugudza, C. (2022). African diaspora experience of transnationalism, social networks and identity: The case of Zimbabwean social workers in the United Kingdom. Journal of African Studies and Development, 14(2), 27–34. 
• Jolly, A., Singh, J., & Lobo, S. (2022). No recourse to public funds: A qualitative evidence synthesis. International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, 18(1), 107–123. 
• Hermansson, L., Lundberg, A., Gruber, S., Jolly, A., Lind, J., Righard, E. and Scott, H. (2022). Firewalls: A necessary tool to enable social rights for undocumented migrants in social work. International Social Work, 65(4), 678–692. 
• Weber, S., Hardiman, M., Kanja, W., Thomas, S., Robinson-Edwards, N., & Bradbury-Jones, C. (2022). Towards ethical international research partnerships in gender-based violence research: Insights from research partners in Kenya. Violence against women, 28(11), 2909-2931.