1996 Qualified as a social worker. Worked for 15 years as a social worker (children and families) in a number of different teams within Wakefield. I worked extensively in the fields of child protection, family support, looked after children, adoption and fostering and court. I specialised at various times in my career in group work, joint interviewing of children with Police when allegations of abuse arose and the impact of sexual abuse on female survivors.

2001 – Staff Development Officer, Wakefield Family Services. Responsibility for the continuing training and development of qualified social workers within the children and family field. Delivered and commissioned a whole range of training around child protection, assessment models and listening and communicating effectively with children. Developed and ran PQ courses, mentored staff as they worked towards the full PQ Award. On the management and curriculum boards of the PQ Child Care Award for both York and Huddersfield Universities. Consultant to service managers considering workforce development needs.

Worked 2005-2009 with a group of looked after young people. The young people were trained to be trainers enabling them to successfully deliver the training programme “Total Respect” to all in Wakefield Family Services personnel who were responsible for the welfare of looked after children and young people. The course encouraged staff to embrace young people’s participation in decision making.

2005- 2007- Joint Appointment, Senior Lecturer, Social Work Division and seconded 2 days per week to Wakefield Family services as the Practice Learning Centre Co-ordinator overseeing the social work placements offered to students from the Universities of Huddersfield and Leeds. Successfully achieved my Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education Practice. Working with Wakefield regarding embedding the PQ Framework into career structures.Strategic role working with local authorities to embedd post qualifying awards into career structures.

2007-2011 Senior Lecturer & Course Leader for the MSc Advanced Safeguarding, a course for qualified staff from a range of health and social work professions working in Adult, Children & Families or Mental Health settings

2011-2017  - Subject Leader in Social work. Strategic development of CPD for professionals involved in the welfare and protection of vulnerable adults and children. Involvement in the Teaching Partnership at both strategic and business levels. Chair of the post graduate course leaders committee, manage staff, complete appraisals, workload management etc 

2013 Obtained MA in Higher Education and Professional Development 

2015 Successfully completed a first - line managers training programme (University of Huddersfield)

2016-2018 involved in capacity as a consultant to a successful 2 year EU funded research project looking at domestic abuse in Barbados and Grenada. Part of the research was to develop an authentic, interactive computer game set in the Caribbean depicting domestic abuse witnessed by a child in the family home and surveyed the impact on children in schools. This was successfully trialled and I interviewed young people about their experiences of relationships and abuse in Barbados and young people's experinece of playing the computer game in Grenada 

Oct 2017 - 2 days per week Subject Lead substantive post 
3 days per week UK Country Director within the None in Three Global Research Centre at the University of Huddersfield. The Centre studies and attempts to eliminate gender based violence (GBV) which is currently experienced by 1 in 3 women and girls globally, hence the titile None in Three- the only acceptable statistic.

The UK None in 3 mixed method research project aims to prevent violence to women and girls through the development of a serious interactive computer game which will expose children and young people (14-18 years) to the complex nuances of adolescent dating violence and abuse enabling them to consider, reflect upon and discuss the impact of the subtle forms of coercion and control to the more serious forms of abuse. The aim is to change both attitudes and behaviours through the use of the game within school and college curricula. Surveys both pre and post- game play will  evaluate effectiveness. The game content will be influenced by the qualitative interviews carried out with survivors and perpetrators of dating abuse 

As Country Director I am involved in both the quantitative and qualitative research.

Similar studies on gender based violence and the impact of pro-social computer games is concurrently taking place in India, Jamaica and Uganda.
*PhD study: As part of the research above my PhD will investigate young people's intimate partner violence using qualitative methods: Can a immersive pro-social computer game change attitudes and behaviour?

• Aim Higher Project – looking at ways in which we can improve the numbers of looked after children studying at university
• Young people as researchers.
• Training young people to participate fully so adults listen
• Child Centred Approaches & working with young people 
• UK Country Director for the None in Three Research Centre- interests around all forms of GBV and specifically young people's experiences and understanding of dating violence and abuse 

Click Here to see all postgraduate research opportunities with Gillian Kirkman

2nd Supervisor on Women's experience of seeking asylum