We have a large, vibrant PhD/Professional Doctorate community within CASCADE. Our PhD students are studying a wide range of diverse topics across children’s social care, adult social care, exploitation and issues relating to criminal justice. The students and their topics are listed below. The doctoral students have regular meetings facilitated by Bridget Handley (PhD student). CASCADE doctoral students can join their meetings on-line or in-person. CASCADE students can access the desks and computers within our office space in Sbarc . The bright, open plan space within Sbarc allows for CASCADE PhD students to access desks and computers, spend time together, get to know each other, share their experiences, cross-fertilise their ideas and benefit from mutual support. Doctoral students can also access the lovely Milk and Sugar café for informal chats and meetings. Many of the CASCADE doctoral supervisors are also working within the centre.
If you are interested in applying to study for a PhD please contact Martin Elliott (ElliottMC1@Cardiff.ac.uk) who runs the Pathway to PhD programme. This is aimed at those working in social care or with lived experience of services (either adult services or children and families) who are considering undertaking a doctorate or professional doctorate, this programme provides support to take your research ideas and develop them into an application for doctoral study.
Current Doctoral/PhD Students
| Student | Subject |
| Bridget Handley | Falling between gaps? A case study analysis of partnership working to support the mental health of children in care. |
| Dawn Hutchinson | The role of the ‘Fostering Self’ model in supporting foster placement stability for Looked After children: an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of foster carers’ experiences. |
| Louisa Roberts | Making the move: Understanding the transition of young people with social care needs from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) to adult services |
| Rebecca Jones | Mentoring for children in care: conceptualising the role, value, and outcomes of the Independent Visitor programme. |
| Zoe Bezeczky | What is the impact of joint protocols between police and children’s residential homes in Wales? |
| Charlotte Waits | What is good leadership in child protection services? |
| Rachel Parker | Understanding the role of schools in students’ self-harming behaviours: Developing system-level prevention and intervention |
| Charlotte Whittaker | Developing a theory of Motivational Interviewing for statutory child and family social work: How can MI be used to support effective conversations about risk? |
| Lorna Stabler | What are siblings’ lived experiences of providing kinship care? Identifying pathways to improving kinship care outcomes |
| Zoe Wrigley | An Analysis of Referrals and Outcomes for Young People at Risk of CSE |
| Rhiannon Maniatt | Managing Vicarious Trauma: Comparisons between Survivor Professionals and Non-Survivor Professionals in a Domestic Abuse Context |
| Angela Endicott | Child Welfare Inequality in the Four Nations of the UK |
| Rebecca Messenger | Parenting cultures |
| Simon Johns | Investigating the impact of regular wellbeing intervention sessions in secondary schools on the mental health of pupils and achieved learning outcome. |
| Catherine Phillips | The role of gender norms in children’s understandings of coercion and control in relationships: co-producing a multi-agency educational intervention for children (ages 7-11) |
| Lee Sobo-Allen | Child Protection, Children and their Non-Resident Fathers: A study into the expectations and motivations of non-resident fathers engaging with social services |
| Rosie Moore | Learning lessons: Informing suicide prevention from a documentary analysis of Child Practice Reviews (CPRs) and Adult Practice Reviews (APRs) |
| Sylvia Hoyland | Supporting women at risk of repeat pregnancy and recurrent care proceedings: A mixed methods study of Reflect services in Wales |
| Laura Mayhew Manistre | What works to support the mental health of young people leaving public care in Wales? |
| Monica Thomas | Absent mothers: The subjective experiences of black British inmates in maintaining relationships and attachment with their children, and it’s perceived effects on desistance from future crime. |
| Sarah Cavill | Comparing the Occupational Balances of Mothers With and Without Postnatal Depression and the Influences from Social Support & Social Capital |
| Richeldis Yhap | Negotiating Recovery: practitioner and service user experiences of mental health care trajectories in Wales |
| Gemma Allnatt | What contributes to the success of Looked After young people in Higher Education? |
| Annemarie Newbury | Strengthening family responses for criminally exploited children |
| Andrea Cooper (nee Murray) | Informal Carers and Care-Embedded Social Work: Improving Residential and Nursing Home Admission |
| Aimee Cummings | |
| Samantha Fitz-Symonds | Towards Agency of Opportunity for Young People Leaving Care: A comparison of Welsh, English and Scandinavian Models of Practice. (co-supervised with Julie Doughty, LAWPOL) |
| Femi David | leadership in children’s services |
| Elizabeth Brierley | Pre-Proceedings, Recurrent Care Proceedings and Social Work with Children and Families: A qualitative case study of how social work is undertaken with children and families subject to the pre proceedings stage of the Public Law Outline, within a Local Authority in England. |
| Lauren Doyle | An exploration of children’s experiences and involvement in private family court proceedings |
| Richeldis Yhap | |
| Ali Davies |
Past Doctoral/PhD Students
| Student | Year | Subject |
| Ed Janes | 2021 | Caring Lives: What do young people who care for family members need to thrive? An empirical investigation. |
| Lucy Sheehan | 2021 | Fixing Change – An Ethnographic Study of Child |
| Alison Prowle | 2021 | ‘Thank you for asking me about my story’: An exploration of the experiences of forced migrant parents and support service provision in Wales |
| Lucy Treby | – | – |
| Abubakari Yakubu | – | – |
| David Walker | – | – |
| Janet Elizabeth | – | – |
| Imran Mohammed | – | – |
| Emma Chivers | – | – |
| Rob Lomax | – | – |
| Kathryn Johnstone | – | – |
| Tilly Greenwell | – | – |
| Lauren Doyle | – | – |
| Catherine Turney | – | – |
| Ali Davies | – | – |
| Rebecca Esther Burden | – | – |
| Vincent Dambudzo | – | – |
| Sarah Farragher | – | – |