Back
to Main menu This section of the Department, which has been in existence for thirty years comprises six academic members of staff, a course administrator and her assistant. The Director of Applied Social Studies is Professor Jane Tunstill.
Besides the provision of a two-year full time programme leading to the
award of the MSc in Social Work with an accompanying Diploma
in Social Work, the academic staff of the section are extensively
involved in research, much of it in collaboration with Social Service
departments. Evaluation of the effectiveness of social work interventions
is a particular research strength of the section.
Ravinder Barn, with support from the CRE, is exploring the
circumstances of black families who come into contact with the social
services; in particular, she has documented the disproportionate
representation of African-Caribbean and mixed origin children in the
public care system.
David Denney has research interests in racism, the criminal
justice system and community care policies and practice.
Monica Dowling has specific responsibility for promoting
evaluative research in local social services.
Jane Tunstill (New Appointment, details pending)
Claire Wendelken has research interests in the care of
elderly people, abuse of elderly people, child abuse and neglect, social
work including residential work with children.
This section of the Department currently has nine research students studying for PhD degrees (including five funded by ESRC collaborative studentships with Westminster Social Services, Surrey County Council and Barnardo's. We welcome applicants from potential postgraduate research students wishing to research the broad field of social work effectiveness and related topics.
R Barn Black Children in the Public Care System, Batsford, 1993.
R Barn ‘Race and the personal social services, issues for anti-discriminatory research’, in B Humphries and L Trueman (eds) Rethinking Social Research: Anti-Discriminatory Approaches in Research Methodology, Avebury.
H Danbury Teaching Practical Social Work, Ashgate, 1994 3rd edn.
M Dowling ‘The restructuring of welfare and social service users: what’s in it for them?’ in R Page and N Deakin (eds) The Costs of Welfare, Avebury, 1993.
M Dowling ‘Becoming a participant observer’, Journal of the British Association of Social Anthropology in Policy and Practice, 1989.
G Macdonald ‘Developing an empirically based approach to probation practice’ British Journal of Social Work, 20, 1994.
G Macdonald ‘Ethical issues in social work research’ in D Smith and R Hugman (eds) Ethical Issues in Social Work, Routledge, 1994. (with K I Macdonald)
B Sheldon Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy, Routledge, 1994.
B Sheldon and G Macdonald ‘Contemporary studies of social work effectiveness’ British Journal of Social Work, 22, 1992.
C Wendelken ‘Beckford- blight or blessing for the basic grade social worker?’ in G Drewry, B Martin and B Sheldon (eds) After Beckford, Dept of Social Policy and Social Science, Royal Holloway Occasional Papers, 1989.
C Wendelken Teaching Child Care in the Diploma in Social Work, CCETSW, 1991.
Last modified: 14.01.98 / CPH