Overview

Four CAST PhD studentships at the School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work (SSESW)

The School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work (SSESW) is delighted to advertise four PhD studentship opportunities commencing in October 2023. All four projects are funded by the Department for the Economy Northern Ireland (DfE) via the co-operative studentship awards in science and technology (CAST) scheme.  Applicants can apply for more than one project but separate applications are required for each project.

The studentships offer tuition fees and an annual stipend TBC (the 22/23 rate was £17,668) to support living costs for a maximum of 3 years. For further details about eligibility criteria (including academic, citizenship and residency criteria) please click on the DfE Research Eligibility Guidance Notes: https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/co-operative-awards-science-and-technology.   While successful candidates are expected to undertake full time working hours on the project, there may be scope to further supplement their income through teaching or research activities should opportunities arise.

Project 2 [Reference: CAST23PMcC]

Children and Young People’s Participation in Child Protection Social Work Decision-making in Northern Ireland.

Contact Dr Paul McCafferty: p.mccafferty@qub.ac.uk

Project summary

Embedded in Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and in domestic law in the UK (Children Act, 1989,2004; The Children (Northern Ireland) Order) 2005) is a child’s right to participate in decisions that directly affect them. However, research by the McCafferty (2017, 2021) has shown that children in contact with child-welfare and protection services are often not involved in decisions that affect their daily lives.

One part of the social work legal, organizational, and professional participatory topography within the child welfare system that has been identified in the literature as a possible causal factor in diminishing the voice of the child is professional social worker’s attitude, understanding and commitment to enacting the legal requirement to involve children in decisions that affect them (Henriksen, 2022).  To date however, no research has been undertaken in Northern Ireland to understand professional child welfare social worker’s attitude, understanding and commitment to enacting their legal obligation to involve children in decisions about their care. 

The aim of this research is to bridge the gap by exploring social worker’s attitudes, understanding and commitment to enacting their legal obligation to involve children in decisions about their care and protection in Northern Ireland from a child’s point of view.

This will be achieved using research methodology that is co-created with the children and young people from VOYPIC and will use a mixed methods design – questionnaire and focus groups – to explore the phenomenon under investigation.

Objectives include:

1. Complete a systematic review on children’s participation in child welfare.
2. To gather the views of children and young people about their lived experience of participating in child welfare decisions.
3. To develop two good practice guides in successful participation practices in child welfare decision-making for children and young people and social work practitioners.

Supervisory Team

Dr Paul McCafferty Social Sciences, Education and Social Work, Queen’s University Belfast

Dr Paul Best Social Sciences, Education and Social Work, Queen’s University Belfast