I have an interdisciplinary background in Anthropology, Sociology and Development Studies, completing my undergraduate and postgraduate studies at Durham University and the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex.
As an anti-colonial scholar and advocate, my research background has focused on decolonisation, Indigenous rights, and well-being – particularly in context with Māori and First Nations peoples in Aotearoa (New Zealand) and (what is currently referred to as) Canada. I am interested in challenging and responding to the social conditions in which harm occurs – namely systemic and structural inequities that result from ongoing colonial legacies. To that end, I am interested in transformative and contextual approaches to social justice – understanding and working towards ways we can dismantle and rebuild these systems
I have been working as a research assistant with the Contextual Safeguarding Programme since September 2019. I currently work on a variety of projects, including: exploring the use of Contextual Safeguarding approaches across youth offending services; and Contextual Safeguarding: The Next Chapter, understanding the individual, contextual, structural and legal scaffolds required to ethically implement and sustain a Contextual Safeguarding approach
Bringing together my research background and work with Contextual Safeguarding, I am particularly interested in exploring community-led approaches to responding to young people’s experiences of structural harm, while understanding what ‘decolonising’ child protection can and should mean. While continuing to work with the programme, in October 2022 I will be starting an ESRC funded PhD with the Sociology department at Durham to explore this