Nationwide Children’s Research Centre remembered at special event
Pictured: Brian Jackson House where the Nationwide Children’s Research Centre (NCRC) has been based.
Thu, 27 Feb 2014 15:24:00 GMT
Research projects dealing with child welfare issues to be highlighted at celebratory evening
A ROSTER of new research projects dealing with child welfare issues, ranging from sexual exploitation of children to the emotional wellbeing of young parents, will be the legacy of a research centre backed by the University of Huddersfield.
The Nationwide Children’s Research Centre (NCRC) was launched in 1998. The University’s professor, Nigel Parton, played a key role in its creation and Kirklees Council, the National Children’s Centre and the NSPCC have also given their support. Appointed as director was Martin Manby, whose career in social work and child protection had included posts as Director of Social Services for the local authorities in Greenwich and Sheffield.
Martin is now retiring and the NCRC is to close. Its work – especially its focus on family support – will be celebrated at a special event on Wednesday 5 March.
During the past 16 years, the NCRC has been responsible for wide-ranging research on the upbringing of children and their rights. The work has resulted in a sequence of research reports and journal articles and the findings have made a practical impact on child welfare work.
Nurturing the future
The funds still held by the NCRC will now be allocated as grants to enable researchers – several from the University of Huddersfield – to carry out new projects.
“I am very pleased about that. It will be a continuation of our work and a link with the future,” said Martin.
There will be seven projects, including Dr Abigail Locke’s investigation of stay-at-home fathers; Dr Shamim Miah’s review of sexual exploitation and grooming; Kathryn Sharratt’s evaluation of a helpline for the families of offenders; Dr Jo Woodiwiss’s study of student social workers and their support of adopted children and young people; and James Reid’s exploration of children’s voices in employability projects.
Also, Kate Smith and Kelly Lockwood, of Kirklees WomenCentre, will research children in Kirklees who are living in the asylum system; while Julie Walker and Susan Adams, of Kirklees Children and Adult Services, will examine the emotional wellbeing of young parents.
A hunger for sound research
The NCRC has been based at Brian Jackson House, the Huddersfield premises of the National Children’s Centre. Martin Manby has been a member of the staff of the University of Huddersfield, where his research activities have included a key role in the EU-funded COPING Project that investigated the plight of the children of imprisoned parents in four European countries.
Although he has now retired from the NCRC, he will continue as an affiliate of the University. “Since the inauguration of the NCRC in 1998, social work practitioners have become more aware of research and have been keen to contribute to it themselves,” he said. “There is still a hunger for sound research that can guide good practice in the areas that I have worked in.”
The retiring director cited the example of his 2012 British Journal of Social Work co-authored article, based on research in Kirklees, Calderdale and Bradford, that explored the experience of parents and carers whose children had been subject to child protection plans. The findings contributed to social work training and it is now widespread good practice to involve parents in child protection case conferences.
- The event on Wednesday 5 March that celebrates the work of the Nationwide Children’s Research Centre takes place at the University of Huddersfield’s Diamond Jubilee Lecture Theatre (6.30pm-7.40pm). The speakers will be Martin Manby, plus the University of Huddersfield’s Professor Nigel Parton and Professor Nick Frost, of Leeds Metropolitan University. The event, which includes a buffet reception, is free and places can be reserved via www.uoh-hhspubliclectures.eventbrite.co.uk/. A map can be viewed here.
