Our Research
The AoCPP partners with researchers to support the deepening of understanding needed to advance practice in Child Protection and Safeguarding. We have a range of projects that you can contribute to.  Please click through to the links behind this tile to learn more and participate in our research.

Dark Listening and Cultures of Listening in Social Work

Call for research participants: all social work teams/practitioners, practitioners in child protection teams

We are looking for participants for an audio dairy study exploring experiences of listening and being listened to within social work practice, to develop the art-based participatory method of ‘dark listening’. Participation is flexible to fit around your schedules, not time intensive (up to 1 hr in total across 3-5 weeks), and offers an opportunity to engage with and reflect about your own practice and approach to listening in a novel way.
The project Cultures of Listening in Crisis: enhancing professional listening to children and adults in situations of need or risk, is led by Dr Johanna Motzkau of the Open University, in collaboration with Justin Rogers (OU) and Prof Michelle Lefevre of Sussex University. It is funded by the Open University Societal Challenges Programme.

PRACTITIONERS

When: spend up to 1 hr in total, across 3-5 weeks, keeping an audio diary; between 1st of February ’25 and 2nd June ’25.

STUDENTS

When: for 3-5 weeks, between 1st of February ’25 and 2nd June ’25.

Many thanks for your interest!

Johanna Motzkau, Justin Rogers and Michelle Lefevre

Coastal communities research study

Are you a social worker in England with experience in coastal communities?

We are looking for social workers and ex-social workers with experience of working in coastal communities to participate in an important research study. Your insight and expertise can make a real impact on understanding the unique workforce challenges faced in these communities.

If you have experience of practicing social work in coastal communities, either currently or previously, we want to hear from you. Participate in an interview and contribute to meaningful research that will shape future support strategies. For doing so you will be compensated with a £25 Amazon (or other store of your choice) voucher.

If you are interested or would like more information, please contact coastalsocialwork@bucks.ac.uk

This research is a collaboration between Buckinghamshire New University, The Open University, Bath Spa University and Edge Hill University. It is funded by the National Institute for Health and Social Care Research.

 

Many thanks for your interest!

Professor Jermaine Ravalier (Research Lead)

Recovery Histories and Caring Communities

When from 1 June 2025 to 30 June 2026. Recovery Histories and Caring Communities are two separate academic projects researching the histories of child welfare, protection and safeguarding. They have been granted full ethical approval by Birkbeck, University of London for the former and Newcastle University in respect of the latter. The Recovery Histories Project is investigating changing understandings of child sexual abuse, harm, trauma and recovery from the 1950s to the present day; Caring Communities: Rethinking Children’s Social Care, 1800-present is examining the labour, experiences and impact of children’s social care between 1800 and the present. We are working together to reach current and former practitioners who might want to contribute to the historical records by recording their personal oral history. Frontline practitioners’ insights are seldom found in the historical records about policy and practice affecting survivors of child abuse or neglect. Similarly, there is still much to be learned from the professional and personal experiences of child protection practitioners as they have navigated the shifting landscape of social work practice. Your story can help to build a historical archive and to shape current services to better meet the needs of children and the adults who support them (including practitioners like you). We have attached more information about ourselves, our projects and our teams here. We will meet or talk on the telephone to interested practitioners for an informal background discussion to hear about your life story and to talk about the oral history process before you decide whether to proceed. The oral history is then co-produced between you and one of our team of oral historians. Although we have specific themes which we want to explore about children’s experiences and your practice, the oral history takes a broad lens and a life-story approach rather than sticking to a narrow interview schedule. Alongside oral histories, the Recovery History team would like to be in touch with practitioners who are interested in taking part in our ethnographic work strand. The approach is to document day-to-day activities through observations and interviews over a set period of time. Our ethnographers have experience of working in social welfare / medical services and our enhanced DBS checks are in progress. Our aim is to offer assistance to your service while carrying out the research, rather than add to your workload. We would plan our input in partnership with you. More information about both research projects and the teams can be found here. Many thanks, Ruth Beecher and Claudia Soares
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