Lauren is an associate professor in the Sociology Department at Durham University who has been researching harm-reduction systems of the state and third sector, and their role in reproducing inequality and dispossession, for over 15 years. She joined the Contextual Safeguarding Research Programme in 2018, with a specific focus on child welfare systems in the UK and internationally, their role in creating safety for young people, and in creating harm. She led the international strand, and the inequalities and system harm strand, of the Contextual Safeguarding research strategy, before joining the leadership team in 2023. Lauren is a member and previous co-convenor of the Communities and Social Justice research group at Durham University.
Lauren is the Principal Investigator and research lead on Resourcing Safety, a Critical Utopian Action Research project funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, working with young people, families and practitioners in two areas of the north of England to explore the mismatch between need and the current policy and service landscape for young people at risk of harm beyond their families.
Lauren is a registered social worker with practice experience in a range of settings with young people and adults impacted by violence and abuse. Lauren is a co-founder and trustee at Social Workers Without Borders (SWWB), an award-winning charity that champions social-work values, supervising independent social work reports to facilitate access to justice for families impacted by immigration control. Lauren is the editor of Social Work with Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Migrants: Theories and Skills for Practice (2019, Jessica Kingsley Publishers). Lauren is a social justice activist who has been involved in migrant justice and climate justice campaigning and has edited and published for a range of leftist publications.