Principal Lecturer in Applied Social Sciences & School Enhancement Lead

I am the School Enhancement Lead responsible for teaching, learning and developing pedagogy across our School of Social Sciences courses. I am also part of the Faculty wide School Enhancement team responsible for leading and developing curriculum and student experience enhancements across the Health and Social Sciences faculty. I lead the Postgraduate Portfolio of Masters and short course provision in the School of Applied Social Sciences. Prior to my current role I led the Social Sciences undergraduate portfolio of courses and external relations with our partner Further Education colleges. I joined the Bedfordshire University as a researcher in 2012 and my past research work has included social work research and child sexual exploitation.

Past roles at the University include Course Coordinator for the Child and Adolescent Studies BA Course and Course Coordinator for the MA International Social Work and Social Development course. I also led the School Erasmus partnership with the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.

My teaching interests and experience spans a wide range across the social sciences including research methods, global childhoods, childhood and youth, young masculinities and social work. My doctoral research focused on teenage boys who are excluded from mainstream school and the practice of professionals. My research interests include marginalised young masculinities, families and communities, social work and creative participatory methods. I am Principal Investigator (PI) for a research project on young boys and harmful sexual behaviours funded by the Pilgrim Trust Foundation.

I believe in the transformative capacities of education and the power of a learning community.

Qualifications

• PhD Social Work and Social Care, University of Sussex
• MSc Development Studies, SOAS, London University
• BA Hons Jurisprudence, Oxford University

Teaching Expertise

• Childhood and Youth studies
• Gender and Young Masculinities
• Qualitative Research Methods
• Academic Writing Skills

Research Interests

• Boys and School exclusion
• Young Masculinities
• Children and Families

Research Projects

• Research project – Harmful sexual behaviours in boys (Principal Investigator)
• Luton Violence Reduction Unit Evaluation research project

Publications

• Thomas, R (Forthcoming 2024) ‘They wanted us out’ Young masculinities and school exclusion in England in Debating Childhood Masculinities: Rethinking the Interplay of Age, Gender and Social Change (Ed) Mukherjee, U. Emerald Publishing.
• Wallengren-Lynch, M., Chen, H. L., Muurinen, H., Segev, E., Hollertz, K., Bengtsson, A. R., Thomas, R. and Carrasco, M. B. (2020) Is there a shared social work signature pedagogy cross-nationally? Using a case study methodology to explore signature pedagogy in England, Israel, Finland, Spain and Sweden. European Journal of Social Work, 1-13.
• Forrester D, Westlake D, Killian M, Antonopoulou V, McCann M, Thurnham A, Thomas R, Waits C, Whittaker C, Hutchison D (2019) What is the relationship between worker skills and outcomes for families in child and family social work? British Journal of Social Work, 49 (8), pp.2148-2167.
• Thomas, R., D’Arcy, K. (2017) Combatting Child Sexual Exploitation with Young People and Parents: Contributions to a Twenty-first Century Family Support Agenda, British Journal of Social Work, 47 (6) 1686 -1703
• D’Arcy, K. Thomas, R. and Wallace, C.T (2018) ‘Youth and Community Approaches to Preventing Child Sexual Exploitation: South African and UK Project Experiences’, in The SAGE Handbook of Youth Work Practice (Eds) Alldred, P. Cullen, F. Edwards, K. and Fusco, D: Sage pp 412 -425
• Thomas, R (2018) ‘CSE is everyone’s business? The role of the night-time economy’, in Beckett, H. and Pearce, J. (Eds) Understanding and Responding to Child Sexual Exploitation: Routledge, 95-105
• Thomas, R. (2016) Boy trouble? Motivational interviewing and communication with black boys and their families. in C. Williams & M. Graham eds. Social work in a diverse society : Transformative practice with black and minority ethnic individuals and communities. Policy Press, 201 - 217.

Contact Details

E: roma.thomas@beds.ac.uk