Dr Andrew Jolly

PG Certificate Higher Education, University of Birmingham, 2025

PhD Social Policy, University of Birmingham, 2020

PG Certificate Advanced Research Methods and Skills, University of Birmingham, 2017

MA Social Work, University of Birmingham, 2007

BA (Hons) Politics, University of Leicester, 2002 

Social Work England Registered Social Worker (no. SW27661) 

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Before qualifying as a social worker, Andy worked in residential care for ex-offenders and drug rehabilitation. He trained as a social worker at the University of Birmingham and worked as a hospital social worker before managing a project working with migrant children and families who had No Recourse to Public Funds.

After taking part in the IRiS Community Practitioner Research Programme as a practitioner researcher, he undertook a PhD which explored the experiences of household food insecurity in households with an irregular migration status in Birmingham.

Prior to working at the University of Birmingham he was a researcher at the Institute for Community Research and Development at the University of Wolverhampton, and lectured in Social Work at the University of Plymouth.

His subsequent research has explored early action approaches with refugees and migrants, the health and wellbeing of undocumented migrant children in London and the impact of law and policy on children’s experiences of neglect.

Andy teaches on the BA and MA social work programmes, and is module lead for ‘Social, Political and Organisational Context for Social Work’ and ‘Research-mindedness in Social Work, BA2’

Andy welcomes proposals for doctoral and post-doctoral research in the following areas:

• Household Food Security in the UK
• Bordering Practices in Social Work and Social Care
• Child Poverty
• Social Work with Refugee and Migrant Populations
• Participatory and community research methods

Current PhD students and projects include:

• Chau Tu  - Equity in Adult Social Care Availability and Accessibility for Vulnerable Adult Migrants in the UK
• Fawaz Amalki - Evaluating the Contribution of Youth Empowerment Policies to Reducing Inequality in Saudi Arabia.
• Joseph Boateng - Assessing the Long-Term Educational and Psychological Effects of Childhood Domestic Abuse Exposure: Implications for Policy Development, Intervention Strategies, and Social Work Practices in the United Kingdom

• Longitudinal impacts of no recourse to public funds on health and wellbeing for children and families in England (NIHR Public Health Research Programme 2025-2027)
• Rediscovering the radical social work tradition in the West Midlands (British Academy Small Research Grant 2024-2025)
• Stand for Change Participatory Evaluation (Trussell Trust 2022-2024)
• No Recourse Early Action Model (What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care 2021-2022)
• Local Authority Responses to People with NRPF during the pandemic (Paul Hamlyn Foundation, 2020)
• Children and Young People who are not British Citizens (Greater London Authority 2018-2020)
• Early Action Charter Programme Evaluation (Refugee Action 2018-2021)
• Undocumented Children in London and their Emotional Health and Wellbeing (Barnardo’s 2017-2018)