Children, Young People and Families Network

Dr Charlotte Jones is the Founder of the Children, Young People and Families Network.

Charlotte holds the position of Associate Professor and Director of BA(Hons) Early Childhood, and BA(Hons) Child and Family: Mental Health. Charlotte is responsible for creating and delivering the strategic vision across her portfolio with particular focus on innovation, sustainability, and quality enhancement. Charlotte’s scholarly work and professional development notably focuses on areas relating to identity within early childhood contexts, drama and creative practices as well as mental health and wellbeing across the lifespan. Charlotte’s engagement with industry includes her role as Secretary for the Association of Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Trustee for TACTYC (Together and Committed to Young Children).

Aidan Thompson is the Co-Chair of the Children, Young People and Families Network. Aidan Thompson is the Social Sciences Connect Programme Manager. He is awaiting his viva for his PhD in Education under the title ‘The Ethical Value of Pop Song Lyrics’ (University of Birmingham). He is a published author with a sole authored book and a co-edited collection, as well as several sole and co-authored articles in the field of character education. Away from academia, he is Chair of Trustees at ReconnectEd – a charity that work with young people at risk of exclusion from mainstream schooling. He is a governor at Moor Hall Primary School.

Dr Rajnaara Chowdhury Akhtar is Associate Professor at the School of Law, University of Warwick.

Rajnaara is a socio-legal researcher with a focus on family law, family justice processes, child law and the intersections of gender and family justice. She has explored transitional relationship norms, normative influences, legal consequences and autonomy. She has conducted extensive empirical research on family law and family justice processes in the UK, Qatar and Australia, including work funded by the Nuffield Foundation and the Doha International Family Institute. Her work draws on a range of socio-legal theories and approaches, and is underpinned by Critical Legal Theory. She is co-author of International Child Law (4th Edition), Routledge.

Prior to joining Warwick Tammie worked in Children’s Social Care for 18 years, 12 of those working directly with children, families and young people within a Youth Offending Service. Tammie developed a particular interest in working with young people who had committed sexual offences and has delivered training supporting practitioners in understanding and responding to children using sexualised behaviour. Tammie has a keen interest in trauma informed practice. Working in the learning and development team Tammie supported students, newly qualified social workers and the wider Early Help and children’s social care workforce. She has a good knowledge of practice from a local authority perspective.

Emily is an experienced educator specialising in supporting trainee teachers on the primary PGCE. With extensive expertise in mentoring and guiding schools involved in teacher education, she balances her time between university teaching and conducting school visits to ensure high-quality training experiences. Passionate about fostering strong partnerships that benefit children and their families, Emily actively engages with the wider education community. In her spare time, she volunteers as chair of the board of governors at a local primary school, where she advocates for excellence in teaching, lening, and inclusion.

Marie Diebolt has over a decade of experience in educational outreach, and is passionate about helping young people realise their potential through impactful educational initiatives. Marie has transitioned from teaching in primary schools to managing large-scale educational projects, and in 2022, Marie joined WMG as an Outreach Project Officer to support the student engineering teams in disseminating their research in local communities.

Marie joined this group as she is particularly interested in discussing and connecting with staff on the theme of social withdrawal. In Marie's spare time, she Chairs a monthly support group for Families, Parents and Carers with young people suffering from extreme social withdrawal (Hikikomori syndrome).

Dr Samantha Flynn is an Assistant Professor in the Centre for Research in Intellectual Disabilities (CIDD) in the School of Education, Learning, and Communication Sciences (SELCS). Her primary research interests are in understanding and improving social, physical, mental health, emotional, parenting, and educational outcomes for children and adults with neurodevelopmental conditions (including: learning disabilities, autism, and ADHD) and the people who support them. She is experienced in systematic reviews, qualitative methods (e.g., Thematic Analysis, Framework Analysis, Grounded Theory), working closely with charity and NHS partners, co-production, process evaluation, and intervention development and evaluation (including feasibility and randomised controlled trials).

Steve is a sociologist focusing on social policy. Steve has an interest in welfare states and comparative analysis. Here Steve focuses on logics and justifications that inform state welfare arrangements. Of interest is the relationship between labour markets and welfare, and how this impacts individuals and families both inside and outside the labour market. How welfare states promote health and wellbeing and how they can also impact negatively is where his focus lies.

Baljit Gill is an early years professional and researcher currently involved in developing pedagogy and curriculum through a New Materialist perspective. Her work explores the dynamic relationships between children, materials and learning environments, emphasising creativity, sustainability and the agency of materials in shaping experiences. Passionate about fostering imaginative and open-ended play and learning spaces, she is keen to collaborate with others to rethink early years education through championing curiosity, exploration, experimentation and new possibilities for children, practitioners and families.

Kiri Gill is the owner and manager of a five times outstanding nursery and an Ofsted inspector. Her interests are in developing provision in which the voice of parents and practitioners is supported. Kiri has a keen interest in coaching and mentoring staff in their professional development. Over the last few years, she has also been involved in a national project with the Department for Education working as a ‘Recovery Expert’, supporting the development of practice in other settings.

Nas is a senior Children Services leader with subject matter expertise in School Improvement, Safeguarding, Social Work, SEND & Education Law. Nas has designed and delivered front line services to meet the needs of children & young people with complex needs and multi-dimensional vulnerabilities.

She has been at the forefront of setting the strategic direction to respond to competing demands within a number of local authorities. Nas has refined ability to exercise sound judgement in resolving system breakdown. Nas has worked at all levels with schools, education providers and cross sector professionals.

She champions innovative approaches, pushes boundaries and secures best outcomes.

Lian has worked in primary schools for the past 5 years. Previously Lian was working as a class-based TA and is now a SEND HLTA. As a SEND HLTA, Lian runs a special educational provisions unit within a mainstream school where she supports a small group of children living with complex special educational needs and disabilities. Lian plans activities, interventions, and lessons to meet each pupil's intellectual, physical, emotional, and social needs. Interventions include Tac-Pac, Intensive Interaction, Colourful Semantics, Attention Autism, and Construction therapy. Lian collaborates closely with teachers, the SEND lead, parents, and other professionals to ensure every child is appropriately supported to achieve their full potential.

Emma Langley is an interdisciplinary academic with a background in education, psychology, and early childhood studies. Her research seeks to understand and reduce inequality for families, particularly those raising a disabled person. She is particularly interested in the experiences of fathers of disabled children and more broadly the transition to fatherhood for all fathers. Emma’s work often involves collaboration with charities, families, and professionals to ensure that her research has a positive and tangible impact on the outcomes of parents and their children.

Jim's background as a social worker in Coventry and Warwickshire includes predominantly working with children and families’ statutory social work. Jim worked within duty and assessment teams in child protection for a number of years. Jim has also submitted care plans to court in support of care applications for children. Jim also has experience of other legal assessments such as Special Guardianship applications. These experiences led Jim to a desire to teach knowledge and skills for children and families social work for qualifying courses at university. Jim has ten years’ experience of teaching Masters and Degree Apprenticeship students in children and families’ social work.

Mark has extensive experience working with children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families. Over the past nine years at a school, he has dedicated his career to supporting SEND students and fostering inclusive learning environments. Mark holds a degree in Early Childhood Education with a specialisation in SEND, which has equipped him with the knowledge and skills to better support the students at his school. In addition to his teaching role, he serves as a SEND Governor for a school in Worcestershire. Mark enjoys spending time with his wife and two children in his spare time.

Annamaria is a Professor and Head of Applied Linguistics, the University of Warwick. Her research interests focus on all aspects of second/ foreign language education for children, task-based second language teaching and learning and engaging children actively in research. She has published widely in the area of teaching English to children and has a strong international reputation in TEYL and second language teacher education. She is the author of Teaching Young Language Learners, Oxford Handbooks for Language Teachers, Oxford University Press (second edition, 2017), Children Learning Second Languages, Palgrave Macmillan (2011), Engaging Children in Applied Linguistics Research, Cambridge University Press (2024) and she is currently joint series editor of Early Language Learning in School Contexts by Multilingual Matters.

Christopher is an independent academic and author, policy analyst and adviser to educational organisations with a particular interest in special educational needs and disability (SEND) policy and implementation. He is also a visiting professor (inclusion and SEND) at the University of Derby.

His previous roles include lecturing in SEND at the University of Birmingham (with lead responsibility for developing and introducing the National Award for SEN Co-ordination) Canterbury Christ Church University, and the University of London’s Institute of Education.

Christopher is a member of the Special Educational Needs Policy Research Forum's lead group. He also chairs the SENCO Forum national e-community and engages in lobbying government to define and regulate the role of special educational needs co-ordinators (SENCOs) more carefully, and to ensure that SENCOs are appropriately trained and deployed in early years settings, schools, and post -16 provision.

Christopher writes a regular column for the British Journal of Special Education, focusing on issues pertaining to the role of the SENCO.

Lisa Robinson, Early Years Advisor for Coventry Early Years Service, provides support and works in collaboration with Coventry Early Years Providers to help improve outcomes for all children. With over 35 years of experience working within the childcare sector, Lisa is committed to high quality provision which nurtures and embraces each child’s diverse and unique needs. A strong advocate for partnership working between childcare providers, parents and family services in Coventry. Currently completing BA (Hons) Early Childhood Degree with the University of Warwick.

Ramandeep is a social worker and has over 18 years of combined experience working in different local authorities, multi-agency teams, and quality assurance teams both as a practitioner and a manager. Ramandeep's career has been enriched by work in the following teams:

• Leaving Care Team

• Duty and Assessment Teams

• Multi-agency Safeguarding Hub

• Child Exploitation, Missing and Trafficked Children’s Team

• Assurance and Development Team

Currently, Ramandeep is the Service Manager for the Warwickshire Safeguarding Children Partnership (WSCP).

Ramandeep is passionate about safeguarding, improving multi-agency safeguarding arrangements, and embedding a culture of continuous learning. Ramandeep's commitment lies in understanding and learn from the lived experience of children, young people, families as well as practitioners to ensure we learn and can help to keep the most vulnerable children and families safe and promote positive outcomes.

Rachel Strisino is an Assistant Professor on the BA (Hons) Early Childhood and Child and Family: Mental Health degrees.

Rachel is an active member of national and international Networks and Special Interest Groups including the national ‘Sustainability Strategy Group’ and ‘Children from Refugee or Migrant Backgrounds’ special interest group.

Her current research explores how parents and professionals build relationships to meet the needs of refugee and asylum seeking children, under the age of 5 and how these child shares their voice in this dynamic.

Dr Ali Struthers is a Reader in Warwick Law School. Her research focuses on various aspects of children’s rights, including education, safeguarding, and privacy, as well as legal education for young children. She is the creator of the successful university outreach project, School Tasking, that aims to teach children about the most interesting aspects of law, including around their own rights.

Julie is currently an Associate Professor and Head of Primary Teacher Education in the Centre for Teacher Education. Her research interests are centred around character, moral and values education. She has an MA in Character Education and is currently studying for a PhD focusing on allocentric virtues in teacher education. She was awarded the Ambassador of Character award by the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues at the University of Birmingham for her pioneering character work in Initial Teacher Education and she has contributed to numerous research papers, conferences and webinars.

Michael is a Reader in the Department of Education Studies. He has interests in children and adversity; children’s rights and participation and theorising childhood. Michael has published widely in these fields and is currently working on the distributed nature of caring within families. This includes exploring the way young carers negotiate the transitions from schooling through to further study and employment while balancing their education with their caring.