Skip to main content
Charlotte Waits

Charlotte Waits

(she/her)

Teams and roles for Charlotte Waits

Publication

2026

2025

2024

2023

2022

2019

2018

2015

2014

2013

Articles

Book sections

Conferences

Monographs

Biography

My broad research interest is in identifying systems and approaches that promote effective social work with children and families.

I am currently undertaking ESRC-funded doctoral research and I am linked to CASCADE, the Children's Social Care and Research Development Centre. My PhD explores leadership in child protection social work through an ethnographic study of leaders in local authority children's services, supervised by Professor Donald Forrester and Professor Martin Kitchener. My aim is to advance our understanding of leadership in children’s social care.

Alongside my doctoral training, I am actively engaged in other research projects. I am looking forward to working with the newly established Centre for Social Care and Artificial Learning (SCALE), undertaking transdisciplinary research to harness the power of AI in social care.

In 2024, I completed an evaluation of 'Together a Chance', a three-year pilot project delivered by Pact (the Prison Advice and Care Trust), embedding social workers in two women's prisons in England to support mothers whose children are involved with children's social care.

Prior to that I was part of the research team for a study commissioned by the Welsh Government, surveying the children’s social care workforce to better understand the factors influencing care rates in Wales. The report and policy briefing were jointly produced by the Wales Centre for Public Policy and CASCADE.

I bring experience from both children's social care and management consulting, having retrained as a social worker in 2010 after an early career working on projects with public and private sector clients, mainly in the UK and Trinidad & Tobago.

Although my initial motivation for social work came from my experience as the parent of a disabled child and voluntary work setting up a parent and carer participation network, my focus in recent years has been on safeguarding and child protection. I have held interesting and varied roles in social work practice, management and research. Before coming to Cardiff University, I worked in Australia overseeing quality assurance and practice improvement in child protection for a regional health authority.

Qualifications

MSc Social Science Research Methods (Merit, Cardiff University)

MSc Social Work (Distinction, University of Bedfordshire)

BSc (Hons) Computer Science with Management (King's College London)

Honours and awards

20192026: Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) PhD studentship, through the Welsh Graduate School for the Social Sciences (WGSSS) Doctoral Training Partnership 

2025: Social Workers' Educational Trust and MHCF awards to fund conference expenses (ECSWR, Munich)

20142017: Visiting Research Fellow, Tilda Goldberg Centre for Social Work and Social Care 

2014: Emerging Practice-Research Scholar Award to fund conference expenses (3rd International Conference on Practice Research, New York)

2012: Tilda Goldberg Scholarship to support Masters dissertation research

19941995: EPSRC studentship for postgraduate study in Management Science and Operational Research at Warwick Business School,  University of Warwick 

Professional memberships

Registered Social Worker (Social Work England)

Member of the British Sociological Assocation (BSA)

Academic positions

20142017: Visiting Research Fellow, Tilda Goldberg Centre for Social Work and Social Care, University of Bedfordshire

20132014: Research Fellow and Project Manager, Tilda Goldberg Centre for Social Work and Social Care, University of Bedfordshire

20122013: Research Assistant, Tilda Goldberg Centre for Social Work and Social Care, University of Bedfordshire

Committees and reviewing

Public Management Research Group (PUMAR) founding SOCSI member (since 2025)

Reviewer for Child Care in Practice (since 2023)

Safeguarding Governor and Chair of the Safeguarding and Welfare Committee at a co-educational day and boarding school for 2-13 year olds, rated ISI excellent (20152022)

Contact Details