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I joined the University of Manchester in 2013. Prior to this I was employed as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Lancaster where I set up and led the Child Welfare Research Unit. As a qualified social worker, I have extensive reseach and practice experience in social work with children and families, with specialist interest in the social work/family court interface, looked after children and adoption. I maintain very close engagement with practice agencies through collaborative research and knowledge exchange actvities. I regularly provide seminars and research briefings to practice and policy audiences. My educational background reflects lengthy engagement with the social sciences. My undergraduate studies were in Psychology at the University of Hull, followed by postgraduate training in social work at the University of York. In 2002, I obtained a bursary from the University of Central Lancashire which enabled me to study full-time for a PhD. My doctoral work examined lay views of help-seeking in connection with problems of parenting and the welfare of children. I used methods of micro-analysis to examine lay conversations about informal relationships of reciprocal support and help-seeking patterns. More recently, having been fortunate enough to to gain funding for a number of studies focused on pre-court social work, care and adoption proceedings, I have been able to further my interest in socio-legal research.

Social work education and training Social work research at Cardiff.

Andrew Pithouse has a personal chair in social research and brings a multi-disciplinary focus to the field of child and family services where he has an established record in research and publications that draw on social policy, social work, sociology and organisational theory. Andrew Pithouse worked in industry, local government and the voluntary sector before developing a career in higher education. He has now researched and taught in social work, social policy and sociology for some two decades. He was Director of Social Work Studies at Cardiff until 2006 and retains a close interest in training in social work.

Sue is Professor of Social Work for Children and Families in the School of Social Policy, Institute of Applied Social Studies. She is also an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences.