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Last updated 23rd March 2023

Professor Featherstone joined the University of Huddersfield in October 2015 as Professor of Social Work. She has degrees in sociology and social work and worked as a social worker and team manager before becoming an academic. She has an international reputation in the areas of gender, fathers and child protection and has been conferred as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in recognition of the excellence of her work and her outstanding contribution to social science. She was rated 49 in a list of the Top 100 Contributors to Social Work in Journal Scholarship in a Global Study on Career Impact in the Profession in 2023.

She was a member of the Child Welfare Inequalities Project Team Child welfare inequalities - University of Huddersfield - this project had major impacts with policymakers in all four countries of the UK, changing the conversation about the role of poverty and inequality in children’s social care. Her research on transforming practices in the area of child protection and domestic abuse has been funded by the Nuffield Foundation in order to impact practice with families Rethinking domestic abuse in child protection: responding differently - Nuffield Foundation

Her co-authored books on Re-imagining Child Protection: towards humane social work with families and Protecting Children: A Social Model have been highly influential and led to invitations to advise on reforming child protection nationally and internationally.