Yorkshire Urban and Rural Teaching Partnership would like to congratulate 2 of our Social Work professors. Following a recent global study on career impact in the profession two professors from University of Huddersfield have been recognised for their contributions to Social Work. The study provides the first empirical picture of leading social work scholars from across the world. It offers a snapshot of the individuals who are contributing to the profession’s literature in terms of their backgrounds and level of social work training.
Social Work has relatively few mechanisms for recognizing major contributions to the profession. This study represents one step toward rectifying this concern within the domain of scholarship. As an applied discipline, social work scholarship typically emphasizes enhancing human well-being and meeting people’s basic needs, particularly among those who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty. This growing body of research attempts to identify the scholars who are playing prominent roles in contributing to the profession’s distinct knowledge base.
Congratulations to
Brid Featherstone, Professor of Social Work, University of Huddersfield
Brid joined the University of Huddersfield in October 2015 as Professor of Social Work. She qualified as a social worker and worked in the field of social work from 1982-1992. She has been involved in social work education and research since then and has worked at universities in Ireland, England and Germany.
She has an international reputation in the areas of gender, fathers and child protection. Her recent co-authored book (with Sue White and Kate Morris) ‘Re-imagining Child Protection: towards humane social work with families’ has been highly influential and led to invitations to speak and advise on reforming child protection nationally and internationally. An article with White and Morris ‘A marriage made in hell: early intervention meets child protection’, British Journal of Social Work, 44, 1735-1749 won the Kay McDougall prize for article of the year in 2015.
Brid Featherstone — University of Huddersfield Research Portal
Nigel Parton, Emeritus Professor of Social Work, University of Huddersfield
Nigel joined the then Polytechnic of Huddersfield in 1977 as lecturer in Social Work; Senior Lecturer 1981-88, Principal Lecturer 1988-1993. He moved to University of Keele in 1993 to become Professor in Child Care Studies, returning to University of Huddersfield in 1994 as Professor in Child Care. Director of the Centre of Applied Childhood Studies 1994-2006 and Head of Research in the School of Human and Health Sciences 2000-2006. He was the Coordinator for the Social Work Research Assessment Exercise in 1992, 1996 and 2001. He then took up NSPCC Professorship at Huddersfield in 2006 and now works on a part-time basis.
He also held Visiting Professorships at the University of Tampere (Finland), La Trobe University (Australia) and the University of Edinburgh (Scotland), and been a Senior Hallsworth Fellow at the University of Manchester (England) and a Kempe-Haruv Fellow at the Kempe Centre, University of Colorado (USA).
Author, co-author and editor of 25 books and over 100 refereed journal papers and book chapters in the broad fields of child welfare, child protection and social work including The Politics of Child Abuse (Palgrave/Macmillan, 1985), Governing the Family (Palgrave/Macmillan, 1991), Safeguarding Childhood (Palgrave/Macmillan, 2006), and The Politics of Child Protection (Palgrave/Macmillan, 2014).
Currently Editor in Chief of the open access journal Social Sciences and previously editor of the journal Children and Society (1996-2006). Member of numerous international journal editorial boards including Child Abuse and Neglect: The International Journal; Children and Youth Services Review; and The International Journal on Child Maltreament: Research, Policy and Practice
Nigel Parton — University of Huddersfield Research Portal
Research Study Conclusions
The results reveal that scientists from across the globe make important contributions to social work scholarship. In addition, some social workers are among the most impactful scientists in the world across all disciplines. In addition to recognizing their accomplishments as global leaders, this study
suggests new opportunities exist to leverage their skills and knowledge to help advance the profession’s collective knowledge development and dissemination.
You can read the full study Who are the Top 100 Contributors to Social Work Journal Scholarship? A Global Study on Career Impact in the Profession
