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CASS public events

Our CASS public lecture series is open to the public to engage and attract external practitioners and academics. The monthly events attract a meaningful number of practitioners to engage in debate around topical sociological issues.

Please note that the views and opinions expressed in the public lectures are those of the speakers.

Upcoming events

All events will take place in Wearside View, room 104:

Policymakers, practitioners and academics working together to explore the role of the work-based mentor on the Social Work Apprenticeship course

Date: 27 November 2024

Time: 1pm-3pm

Delivered by: Diane Simpson, Sarah Beck, Julie Shaw, Charlotte Roberts, Vicki Ingham, and Stuart Brown

Book your place at the Social Work Apprenticeship public lecture.

Employer voice

Date: 18 December 2024

Time: 1pm-3pm

Delivered by: Kym Drady

Book your place at the Employer voice public lecture.

Autonomous youth: "Not everyone"

Date: 29 January 2025

Time: 1pm-3pm

Delivered by: 'Music Collective Research Team'

Book your place at the Autonomous youth public lecture.

Topic title TBC

Date: 19 February 2025

Time: 1pm-3pm

Delivered by: Kate Duffy and Liz Hidson

Dawn and twilight: Moral distress, resources, and social work in pre-birth assessment and end-of-life care

Date: 26 March 2025

Time: 1pm-3pm

Delivered by: Cally Bleasby and Carrie Phillips

Book your place at the Dawn and twilight public lecture.

Safeguarding adults for empowerment (the SAFE project): Understanding perspectives on safety and adult safeguarding

Date: 30 April 2025

Time: 1pm-3pm

Delivered by: Sarah Lonbay, Jamie Scorer, Keith Chappell, Martin Wilkes, Illeene Bryne, Carole Southall, Toby Brandon, Claire Nixon, James Babyk-Glynn, and Paul Hine

Book your place at the SAFE project public lecture.

Is inclusion truly inclusive? A case study investigation into formative assessment processes, and summative assessment, and its impact on student mental health and wellbeing: Initial findings

Date: 21 May 2025

Time: 1pm-3pm

Delivered by: Ashleigh Slavin

Book your place at the Is inclusion truly inclusive? public lecture.

Attachments in the Early Years – an exploration of young children's agentic attachment behaviours and choices in their Early Years setting: preliminary findings

Date: 25 June 2025

Time: 1pm-3pm

Delivered by: Gayle Blackburn

Book your place at the Attachments in the Early Years public lecture.

Previous events

  • "Supporting trans and non-binary detainees in custody in England and Wales: Vulnerability, discretion and policy grey areas" – delivered by Sarah Connelly and Helen Williams.
  • "The existential crunch that is middle age: Exploring the experiential impact of life course events on the psychosocial wellbeing of women in the UK" – delivered by Jacqui Merchant.
  • "Youth work and initial mental health" – delivered by Alison Ni Charraighe (Northumbria University) and Andie Reynolds (University of Edinburgh).
  • ""I'm getting out to nothing": A temporal analysis of dominant discourses and practices with residents convicted of child sex offences in Probation Approved Premises" – delivered by Nicola Roberts, Carla Reeves, Louise Jackson.
  • “Bringing humanising influences into critical care through the power of natural environment: The Hospital Garden Project” – delivered by Dr Sheila Quaid.
  • “A vision of safety: An arts-based research project exploring the meaning of safety in mental health and abuse” – delivered by Sarah Lonbay.
  • “Care and compassion in hospital social work: Initial findings from a PhD study” – delivered by Carrie Phillips.
  • “A qualitative exploratory study of trauma informed practice in social work supervision” – delivered by Julie Shaw.
  • “A useful stigma? Sexual and gender minorities, the 'pink line' and global geopolitics” – delivered by Drew Dalton.
  • “Explorations of the behavioural determinants that impact undergraduate student engagement with placement experiences” – delivered by Liz Henry.
  • "Exploring the experiences of Thai Women following migratory marriage to England" – delivered by Dr Angela Wilcock.
  • "The Normalisation of Online Hate: Trolling, Diet Culture, and Filtered Lifestyles" – delivered by Lauren Doyle.
  • "An intersectional analysis into gender and age in relation to choice and support" – delivered by Sarah Connelly.
  • "Raising Aspirations and Impartiality: A paradoxical position for career guidance practitioners?" – delivered by Neil Evans.
  • "Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) in Police Custody Settings: The importance of screening and intervention" – delivered by Dr Patrick Hutchinson, Dr Donna Peacock and Ms Clare Holland.
  • ""I felt like I deserved it because I was Austistic": Understanding the Impact of Interpersonal Victimisation on the Lives of Austitic People" – delivered by Dr Amy Pearson.
  • "Do we need the HE classroom in Social Sciences to be a safe space or a discomforting space? Research from the teacher perspective" – delivered by Dr Sheila Quaid, Dr Helen Williams and Dr Angela Wilcock.
  • "Podcasting to Smash the Patriarchy: The Heart as a case study of quiet activism" – delivered by Dr Helen Williams and Dr Evi Karathanasopoulou.
  • "Domestic abuse and the older population: Key lessons for practice" by Dr Sarah Lonbay, Zeta Bikova and Dr Carole Southall.
  • "I've been asked to return to my home country: An exploratory study into the discrimination experienced by Eastern European women living in Tyne and Wear" – delivered by Dr Louise Harvey-Golding, Dr Diane Simpson, Ms Carrie Phillips and Ms Julie Smiles.
  • "'Once my mam and dad have gone out of my room. When it’s bedtime, I unlock my duvet cover on my bed and I get inside and read’: Listening to Young Children’s Voices: An Ethnographic Study of Children’s Experiences of Reading for Pleasure" – delivered by Linda Graham.
  • "Place aesthetics and dialectics in the cultural and creative industries" – delivered by Dr Matt Durey.
  • "Nature, Nurture and Future: narratives of women who are not mothers" – delivered by Dr Sheila Quaid.
  • "'These are vulnerable people who don't have a voice': Exploring constructions of vulnerability and ageing in the context of safeguarding older people" – delivered by Dr Sarah Lonbay.
  • "Universal Free School Breakfast: a Socioecological Perspective" – delivered by Dr Louise Harvey-Golding.
  • "The Children’s Community: Story of Place" – delivered by Dr Lesley Deacon and Ms Zeta Bikova.
  • "Incredible Witnesses: Barriers to justice for people with learning disabilities" – delivered by Dr Helen Williams.
  • "A Qualitative ‘Evaluation’ of the Bystander Project: the problem of binaries'" – delivered by Dr Nicola Roberts, Dr Julie Ovington and Ms Heaven Marsh.
  • "Lost England? A Post-Brexit Travelogue in Pandemic Times" – delivered by Prof. Roger Burrows (Newcastle University).
  • "The carceral existence of social work academics: a Foucauldian analysis of social work education in English universities" – delivered by Dr Diane Simpson.
  • "Exploring the concept of Hate Relationships in the study of Hate Crime" – delivered by Professor Stephen Macdonald, Professor Catherine Donovan (Durham University) and Dr John Clayton (Northumbria University).
  • "Beneficial or Detrimental? The relationship between sustainability, eco-schools and Ofsted reports" – delivered by Dr Athanasia Chatzifotiou
  • "Evaluation of the Bystander Project: A statistical analysis'' – delivered by Dr Nicola Roberts and Ms Heaven Marsh.
  • "Mad Studies as a possible Knowledge Democracy?" – delivered by Dr Toby Brandon (Northumbria University).
  • "Working in the Modern NHS: Going beyond, and on towards breaking point" – delivered by Dr Paddy Hutchinson (Northumbria University).
  • "Place aesthetics and dialectics in the cultural and creative industries" – delivered by Dr Matthew Durey.
  • "Nature, Nurture and Future: narratives of women who are not mothers" – delivered by Dr Sheila Quaid.
  • "Diasporic Reorientations: emotional geographies of the Zimbabwean diaspora in a post-Mugabe era" – delivered by Dr John Clayton (Northumbria University).
  • "From Practitioner to Researcher" – delivered by Dr Lesley Deacon.
  • "The Invisible Enemy: Disability, Isolation and Loneliness" – delivered by Dr Stephen Macdonald and Dr Lesley Deacon.
  • "What Do Young Adult Carers Learn Through Supporting Family Members? Extending the Affirmation Model" – delivered by Dr Anna Heyman, University of Northumbria.
  • '"Trust Your Instincts – Act!” PREVENT Police Officers' Perspectives of Counter-Radicalisation Reporting Thresholds." – delivered by Dr Paul Dresser.
  • "The Concept of 'Difficult Knowledge' and its Place in Partnership Development" – delivered by Dr Kim Gilligan.
  • "Landscapes of Safety: The construction and navigation of the urban landscape by students based on their gendered and/or racialised subjectivities" – delivered by Dr Nicola Roberts and Professor Catherine Donovan.
  • "Immigration, Rhetoric, Brexit and Sunderland" The launch of the CASS working paper series – delivered by Dr Rick Bowler and Prof Pete Rushton.
  • "Agency, Resistance and the Non ‘Ideal Victim" – delivered by Dr Nicola Roberts and Prof Catherine Donovan.
  • "Reporting on an innovative new way of supporting vulnerable detainees at police stations" – delivered by Dr Faye Cosgrove and Dr Donna Peacock.
  • "Young People as Cultural Critics on the Mono-cultural Landscapes that Fail Them" – delivered by Dr Rick Bowler and Dr Amina Raik.
  • "Including and Involving Young People (under 18s) in Hate Research" – delivered by James Pickles, University of Northumbria.
  • "Exploring Postindustrial Urban Identities in the Cultural and Creative Industries" – delivered by Matt Durey, University of Northumbria.
  • "'You Can Spot Them A Mile Off': Slut-Shaming, Sex Education and Social Class" – delivered by Dr Helen Williams, University of Leeds.