Centre for Child Wellbeing and Protection

Photo of hands covered in paint

The Centre for Child Wellbeing and Protection is committed to the delivery of excellent academic research with children, young people and families. We work to build an integrated and systemic understanding of children and young people’s lives, exploring in particular how best to support their wellbeing, and to protect them from factors that might be harmful. Our interests include mental health, resilience, and child protection, as well as children and young people’s rights, relationships, play, learning and education, their communities, and the broader social environment in which they are located. We're particularly concerned with the impact of inequalities, with questions of social justice and of how different childhoods are represented through research and policy. We use creative and innovative methods to explore issues that matter to children, families and those who care for and about them. We work together with children and young people, families and communities, as well as with organisations to build knowledge that can be applied and used in practice settings, like health, social care, third sector organisations, criminal justice and family courts, and education.

Meet the team

Professor Jane Callaghan
Professor of Child Wellbeing and Protection and Director of the Centre for Child Wellbeing and Protection

Dr John I'Anson
Associate Dean for Learning, Teaching and the Student Experience and Deputy Director of the Centre for Child Wellbeing and Protection

Dr Sarah Wilson
Senior Lecturer and  Deputy Director, Centre for Child Wellbeing and Protection

Dr Hannah Hale
Research Fellow

Ms Tanya Beetham
Research Assistant and PhD student

Ms Christine Gray
PhD Student

Dr Maggie Grant
Research Assistant

Ms Katherine Allen
PhD Student (Seamless Services)

Ms Kate Kyriakou
PhD Student

Honorary members

Professor Julie Taylor
Honorary Professor 

Professor Joan Forbes
Honorary Professor 

Beth Smith
Honorary Senior Research Fellow

Professor Arlene Vetere
Honorary Professor