Email: portico-services@ucl.ac.uk
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- Professor of Education, Wellbeing and International Development
- IOE - Education, Practice & Society
- UCL Institute of Education
As Professor in Education, Wellbeing and International Development, my teaching and research focuses on the sociological dimensions of health, wellbeing and rights of individuals and communities, particularly those most likely to experience marginalisation and exclusion. With respect to health and health promotion, as well as conducting extensive research, I have also worked as a health promotion practitioner both in the UK (health promotion specialist) and in Namibia (youth health programme advisor with the Ministry of Youth and Sport for several years).
I am particularly interested in the interface between policy, practice and context and have carried out many qualitative and mixed-method studies, in the UK and internationally and in a range of health, education, public care and community settings. This has included research with young parents; young people in and leaving public care; UK and international assessments of young people’s access to sexual and reproductive information, education and services (including Eastern Europe and Central Asia and the Middle East and North Africa); young people and families affected by HIV/AIDS; the psychological and social impacts on families and young people living in poverty; and children and young people seeking asylum alone in the UK and across Europe. Current research focuses on the wellbeing outcomes of children, young people and families subject to immigration control and on educational wellbeing in contexts of mass displacement.


I currently lead or am involved in a number of research projects exploring the wellbeing outcomes of children, young people and families at risk of marginalisation and disadvantage. Many of these consider wellbeing in the context of migration and displacement and include: the impact of Immigration, detention and deportation policies on children and families (Life Facing Deportation project); promoting transformative education in contexts of mass displacement (RELIEF project); investigating separated child migrants experiences of care and caring (Children Caring on the Move); exploring the wellbeing outcomes of unaccompanied migrant children and young people as they turn 18 (Becoming Adult project); The impact of COVID-19 on unaccompanied migrant young people's access to legal and care services (LOHST project); and the impact of COVID-19 on care and remittance practices among migrant communities in the UK (Connecting during COVID-19 project). I have also recently conducted comparative research into the social impacts of living in poverty for children and families (Poverty, Shame and Social Exclusion projects); and am part of the London International Development Centre - Migration Leadership Team (LIDC-MLT), funded by the ESRC and AHRC to develop a global strategy for supporting migration research. In addition I have conducted many studies into other aspects of health, wellbeing and health promotion including HIV/AIDS; sexual and reproductive health; mental health; alcohol and drug use.
I teach on the MA Education, Health Promotion and International Development; help coordinate the Dissertation with Integrated Research Teaching (DwIRT) module; and and am module leader with Amy North on: Education, Migration and Development. In addition I supervise a number of Doctoral students conducting research in related fields.
01-AUG-2010 – 31-DEC-2015 | Senior Research Fellow | Social Policy and Intervention | University of Oxford, United Kingdom |