Acclaimed University of Huddersfield academics in global top 50 for social work research

The University of Huddersfield’s reputation as a centre of excellence in social work research has been recognised with two its academics being named as leading global contributors to journal research in the field.

Professor Brid Featherstone and Professor Nigel Parton have been named in the Top Contributors to Social Work Journal Scholarship in the world, with Professor Parton the highest-placed UK academic at number eight in the list.

With Professor Featherstone at 49, the University is one of a small number of institutions with two academics in the list from Research on Social Work Practice.

“The University of Huddersfield really punches above its weight in this area,” says Professor Featherstone. “We have two professors in the top 50, but it is also a reflection of the people we have here. We have a good track record and are seen as a centre of excellence in social work, and it shows that we have a research culture. It’s a great achievement for a post-92 university.”

Professor Parton joined the then Huddersfield Polytechnic as a lecturer in 1977, and aside from a spell at Keele, he was with the institution for 40 years until his retirement. He is now Editor-in-Chief of the journal Social Sciences, and with his association with the University of Huddersfield having continued since retirement he is delighted with the recognition.

“I was a little bit surprised and chuffed as well. There were a couple of themes that went through the whole 40 years of my time here. One is observing, commenting and analysing developments in child protection. That was initially in the UK but over the last 20 years internationally.

“There were also the developments in and changes to social work. I treat them separately, but there is a clear connection.

“Books have been the most significant thing for me since I published The Politics of Child Abuse in 1985. I accept that in this era of digital availability that is changing, and the Social Science journal is very much a journal of its time, being open access and available digitally.

“There is also a collaborative research project, Child Protection Systems: International Trends and Orientations, from 2011 that compared child protection systems in different countries which has been referenced in journals for its international aspect. If people want to make reference to international contexts in this area, invariably it is the study that is referenced.”

The university’s research continues to be highly relevant, with Professor Featherstone’s work around linking poverty to child abuse several years ago now being disseminated and acted upon.

“I got involved in the Child Inequalities Project based at Huddersfield with Paul Bywaters. We got funding for that and through our empirical work, we put poverty back on the map of social work and child protection. This was in 2015, when the feeling was that poverty was nothing to do with child protection but to do with people’s life choices like alcohol or being violent to each other.

“Now, I am really busy with local authorities, helping them to think about poverty-aware practice. I recently spent time with Kirklees Council about how to give staff cost-of-living guidance and make practices more aware of poverty.

“I am also currently involved in a project at Huddersfield, funded by Nuffield, that aims to better understand and enhance the UK’s response to domestic abuse and child protection, and an NIHR-funded study of care pathways for mothers with substance misuse issues.”