It's been a huge year from the Contextual Safeguarding team - we've gone from a being a research programme to a multi-disciplinary Global Centre with new staff members, new goals and new partnerships. In this blog, team members reflect on their highlights of an incredible 2025.
Carlene Firmin
I have so many highlights of 2025, it's hard to choose just one – so as Director the GCCS I am going to sneak in three.
The very public one was, of course, the launch of the Global Centre for Contextual Safeguarding in September. Featuring contributions - all in the spirit of care, compassion and a healthy does of rage - from young people, parents, practitioners, scholars, funders, policymakers and organisational leaders who have shaped Contextual Safeguarding and will be central to its future, I couldn’t have asked for more. Just like the event, the GCCS will allow us to pursue Contextual Safeguarding internationally, build an interdisciplinary knowledge base, and create far more opportunities for learning and development across the sectors we support.
Meanwhile, we welcomed four new PhD candidates to the centre this year across Business, Theology, Sports and Care, and, for the second time, secured funding to run the Davis Scholarship for care-experienced PhD applicants. I am so excited about what these brilliant minds will bring to the future of Contextual Safeguarding and remain committed to the ongoing diversification of the thinkers behind the concept.
Behind the scenes, I have continued to build a national community of practice for Risk Outside of the Home (ROTH) Child Protection Pathways, with 25 areas in England, and emergent interest in both Scotland and Wales. Projects like this are what keep me going; directly connected to practice, with ongoing insight into the difference our research can make to how young people’s experiences of harm are understood and responded to.
Rachael Owens
My standout moment was when the incredible team of parent researchers from Plymouth took their mics at the launch conference for the GCCS. These brilliant researchers have been drawing on their wisdom and experiences to shape a new vision for an adolescent-sensitive approach to supporting young parents. As they got up to speak, I remembered my first conference – so intimidating! But they spoke with such power and honesty; I was in complete awe. But how would others react, those hearing these ideas the first time? The answer was a resounding standing ovation! AMAZING!
Vicky Butterby
My highlight has to be working with young crew members at McDonald's as part of our Everybody's Business project, where we’ve been exploring Contextual Safeguarding in hospitality. I’ve really enjoyed learning what it's like to work in such a busy and fast-paced environment, while coming to understand the everyday scenarios these young employees are managing and the support they need from their managers to feel safe and valued. I also enjoyed getting to know some of the young customers who visit McDonald’s and hearing their perspectives on how McDonald’s can support young people to feel welcome and safe at their restaurants.
Katharine Busby
Having joined the team in April, my highlight has definitely been seeing how the work we do impacts on and gives voice to others. At September’s GCCS launch/ conference, so many people discussed how Contextual Safeguarding is being used in their work practice or how it’s having a positive effect on their own lives, which made me feel so proud of what this team does, and to say I am a part of it. By increasing our online presence and engagement, I hope our work becomes even more widely acknowledged and our networks expand even further in 2026.
Jenny Lloyd
The highlight of my year has been working with Power The Fight, looking at the relationship between Contextual Safeguarding and Cultural Sensitivity. We have been working together for the last two years and in that time I have been lucky enough to follow their work in schools. In December we co-hosted three webinars that were full of people eager to learn about creating safety for young people, and I'm thrilled that we will be launching a new e-learning course in early 2026.
Rebecca Brown
It's been a real highlight working with such inspirational young people, parents and professionals on the Resourcing Safety project and hearing their thoughts on ways to overcome the mismatch between young people’s needs and service provision; I’m very excited to be leading the project while Lauren Wroe is on maternity leave. I also loved the enthusiastic feedback I received from practitioners following the paper I delivered at the GGCS launch, in which I discussed how we need more exploration of substance misuse in relation to EFH, and I’m looking forward to developing this work in 2026.
Clare Brady
The past three months have been all about new beginnings. Joining the GCCS as their new Senior Business Manager and working with this brilliant team has been a real highlight. Our two-day away day was unforgettable - mixing serious systems development and mission clarity with a genuinely good time. I’ve loved the challenge of helping set up the new centre, building the scaffolding for growth and making sure we’ve got the right systems in place for the future. Joining has been intense, rewarding, and just the start of what’s to come.
Judith Amankwa Addo
I only recently joined the GCCS, and already I have had an incredible experience with the wonderful team; I have really enjoyed working on the Prioritising Protection and Resourcing Safety projects. My highlight of the year is seeing how enthusiastic different groups of people are about Contextual Safeguarding and their willingness to be part of the voice in the community, advocating for appropriate approaches and protecting children and young people.
Delphine Peace
One of the many things I love about this job is the chance to work with and learn from so many people across different fields. In addition to welcoming new colleagues in our team, the highlight for me this year was working with incredibly inspiring young people and the amazing organisations that support them – Shpresa and the Migrant and Refugee Children's Legal Unit – as part of the Seeking Safety project. It’s the first time we've explored Contextual Safeguarding with young asylum seekers and refugees in the UK, and I can’t wait to continue this journey together in 2026.
Lynne Cairns
My biggest highlight of 2025 was joining the team in May! I’ve loved learning from parents of adolescents in our From Capacity to Context project and it was such a privilege to present a workshop with some of the parents at the launch of GCCS. I'm looking forward to 2026 as we move into the project's piloting phase – developing resources with parents and practitioners based on our shared vision of what could be different for parents of teenagers when they encounter safeguarding systems. Most recently, it was extra-special to watch Carlene deliver the prestigious Kilbrandon lecture in Glasgow. I learned about Lord Kilbrandon’s legacy when training to be a social worker over 25 years ago, so to witness Carlene reflecting on the interconnections of Kilbrandon principles and Contextual Safeguarding felt like a full-circle moment.
Njilan Morris-Jarra
My 2025 highlight and the first big project I've been involved in has been Prioritising Protection, commissioned by the Youth Endowment Fund on local operational and strategic responses to extra familial harm. I’ve been engaged in a broad range of research methods, and we have collaborated with varied organisational partners and practice-based research participants. It has been an excellent learning experience, and my previous research and practical experience in social care, prisons and the third sector has also felt genuinely useful in this project. In just under four months working with the GCCS, I feel part of a diverse and creative team of thinkers, practitioners and academics who are passionate not only about safeguarding practice, but connect this to wider social dynamics.
Cait Jobson
Our Everybody's Business project with McDonald's has been my absolute high point of the year! In particular, the relationships I forged with staff working at McDonald's across different positions - from business managers to dining area crew - and getting the opportunity to highlight the wealth of expertise in those less heard voices. Bringing different elements of participatory work into a very new space for me led to perspective shifts and mutual learning for everyone involved - me included!