Research

Sarah's research focus is on co-producing new ways of working at the initial stages of child protection to extend the current socio-technical framework to improve outcomes for children. This includes developments in UK child protection and providing early help through smartphone apps relating to managing risk and safeguarding. In this context, socio-technical change can occur.

Sarah has a particular interest in proposing changes to existing ways of working by a range of gatekeepers throughout the child protection system, including practitioners in social work, the police, health and education agencies, who may identify barriers and present challenges to implementation. This also includes how the use of technology in information management in a Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) should adapt to provide digital responses for self-referrals. Sarah seeks to develop research-based evidence that will drive national policy change for safeguarding and digital as one integrated concept.  

In addition to this primary line of research, Sarah is interested in: 

• Understanding of how a child's information travels through databases for social workers and multi-agency responses 
• Technological access to safeguarding for children and young people
• Digital self-referrals by children and young people
• A child’s journey and a digital, child-focused child protection system 
• New digital and child-friendly conceptual frameworks for managing risk and sharing information 
• Repositioning childhood within a social-technical, inter-generational childhood space
• Apps as a communication and information sharing for children and young people 
• Research methodology in the development of mixed methods approaches using creative techniques for children as equal research partners 
• Child-centred, co-operative enquiry for the design and usability of safeguarding apps