Professor Nicky Stanley

Nicky leads a number of national research studies examining prevention and interventions for different forms of harm and violence for both children and adults. She publishes widely and has produced books on domestic violence and child protection, health and social care inquiries and mothers’ mental health needs. Current studies include the Roadmap evaluation of two major projects on domestic abuse being undertaken by Women’s Aid and SafeLives, funded by the Big Lottery and the TESSE study: a national evaluation of the NSPCC’s Speak Out. Stay Safe programme for primary school children. She is a co-applicant on an ESRC funded study on domestic homicide and on Family Recovery after Domestic Abuse (FReDA), an NIHR funded trial of the Community Group Programme intervention for children who have experienced domestic violence and abuse. As Co-Director of the Connect Centre at the University of Central Lancashire, she manages a team of researchers whose work aims to make connections and challenge fragmented thinking about violence and abuse and its impact in order to develop new thinking on preventing harm and protecting adults and children She is Deputy Chair of the Social Work and Social Policy Sub-Panel for REF2021.

Nicky has managed a range of national and international research projects commissioned by government, health trusts and voluntary organisations. Her many peer-reviewed papers and reports are widely cited and have informed policy and practice developments in the UK and internationally. She speaks regularly at conferences and seminars. She has supervised a number of research students and teaches both practitioners and qualifying social workers. She is a qualified social worker with social work experience in England and Scotland. She is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Gender-Based Violence and was previously Co-Editor of Child Abuse Review. She is an advisor or collaborator on a number of national research projects and was a member of the Programme Development Group for the NICE Guideline on the Prevention and Response to Domestic Violence. Nicky was a founding member of and Co-Director of the Institute for Citizenship. Society and Change at the University of Central Lancashire from 2018-20. She was a member of the Social Work and Social Policy Sub-Panel for REF2014. She publishes widely in international journals and has produced a number of books. Her most recent book is Nicky Stanley and Cathy Humphreys (eds) (2015) Domestic Violence and Protecting Children: New Thinking and Approaches, London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.