Dr Sharanya Mahesh PhD

Dr Sharanya Mahesh

Department of Social Work and Social Care
Research Fellow

Contact details

Email
s.n.mahesh@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
School of Social Policy and Society
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Sharanya is a social worker and experienced early career researcher of adult social care. Her research focuses on strengths based practice and leadership in social care with specific interests to improve implementation and quality of services.

Qualifications

  • PhD, University of Birmingham 2026
  • MSc in Social Policy (Research), London School of Economics and Political Science 2019
  • MA in Social Work, St Josephs University, India 2015
  • Bachelors of Commerce, St Josephs College of Commerce, India 2013

Biography

Sharanya is a Research Fellow based in the Department of Social Work and Social Care. Prior to joining the University, she was a practicing community development social worker in India and has worked with vulnerable communities such as manual scavengers and snake charmers. Alongside being a social worker, she was a research associate who worked on action research projects that helped develop capacities of vulnerable communities.

Sharanya is an applied academic with a research interest in strengths-based approaches, social work leadership and service improvement in adult social care. Her PhD examined how strengths-based practice is applied with specific focus on leadership, collaboration and coproduction.

Research

Current and recent projects 

Publications

Recent publications

Book

Miller, R & Mahesh, S (eds) 2025, Strengths-Based Practice in Adult Social Work and Social Care. 1st edn, Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003424383

Article

Mahesh, S, Waterman, C, Toma, M, Jackson, C, Mayrhofer, A, Tingle, A & Miller, R 2026, 'Community first: a systems approach to implementing integrated care', Journal of Integrated Care, vol. 34, no. 5, pp. 77–89. https://doi.org/10.1108/JICA-06-2025-0055

Tew, J, Pelge, H & Mahesh, S 2026, 'Specifying the practice model for Family and Group Conferencing for adults: Reporting on a Delphi consultation', British Journal of Social Work. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcag034

Liu, L, Tew, J, Mahesh, S & Kinghorn, P 2025, 'An exploration of the costs of family and group conferencing pathways in adult social care and mental health: A scenario-based cost analysis', PLOS ONE, vol. 20, no. 12, e0326829. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0326829

Miller, R, Waterman, C, Jackson, C, Mahesh, S, Tingle, A, Mayrhofer, A & Toma, M 2025, 'Leading by example? Culture, change, and strength-based social work', The British Journal of Social Work. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcaf070

Mahesh, S, Tew, J, Mitchell, M, Au, K-M, Nicholls, V, Quinn Aziz, A, Johnson, M & Vincen, TK 2025, 'What is Family and Group Conferencing for adults? Part 1: Characterising the model and methods of enquiry', NIHR Open Research. https://doi.org/10.3310/nihropenres.13811.2

Mahesh, S & Miller, R 2024, 'Building on strengths to develop the leadership of social workers', Social Work Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2024.2358849

Mahesh, S, Bharatan, I & Miller, R 2024, 'Strengths-based practice in adult social care: Understanding implementation', NIHR Open Research. https://doi.org/10.3310/nihropenres.13532.2

Currie, G, Bharatan, I, Mahesh, S & Miller, R 2024, 'Supporting New Ways of Working for Social Workers Through High Performance Work Practices: Sustaining Professional Identity', Human Resource Management. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.22271

Mahesh, S, Lowther, J & Miller, R 2023, 'Improving Quality in Social Work: The Role of Peer Challenge', British Journal of Social Work. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcad252

View all publications in research portal

Expertise

For a period of two years (2015-17), Sharanya was an active member of the manual scavengers’ policy advice committee. The sole purpose of the committee was to bring together a range of stakeholders who would help advice State governments on eradication of manual scavenging. As a working member, Sharanya represented the views of NGOs and other community partners where, she had opportunities to present ground realities and practical challenges associated with the eradication of the profession