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Nathan Hughes

Deputy Director, University of Sheffield

Nathan Hughes is Professor of Adolescent Health and Justice, co-director of CIRCLE – the Centre for International Research on Care, Labour and Equalities – at the University of Sheffield.

He is Deputy Director of the Centre for Care, and lead for the Children and Families theme. This reflects his broad research interests in effective support to vulnerable young people, including those affected by health and developmental difficulties and those within the child protection system.

His work has examined the disproportionate prevalence of various childhood health and developmental difficulties among young people in our criminal justice systems, and the education, social care, housing and justice system practices and interventions that discriminate against, disable and therefore criminalise these young people. He is committed to using this evidence to improve policy and practice, including as co-chair, with Andy MacDonald MP, of UKABIF’s ABI Justice Network – a consortium of charities, senior professionals and academics engaging policymakers, civil servants, and service leads promoting effective support of those with ABI. He is also a founding member of NABLES, which seeks to improve educational experiences after an ABI, supported the development of the key Time for Change policy report.

Recent and current projects related to child protection include:

  • using linked national administrative dataset to explore offending and education outcomes for children who have been in contact with children’s social care, with Anna Leyland
  • exploring how ‘neglect’ is understood and operationalised by social workers in decision making re child protection interventions, and the influence of poverty, domestic violence and mental health
  • evaluating the role of antipoverty intervention as a component of the Family Safeguarding Model
  • understanding the economic contribution of kinship care, and the support of kinship carers
  • developing a Safeguarding and Child Welfare theme as part of SCYPHeR, the South Yorkshire Children and Young People’s Research network

Nathan is also the founding co-chair – with Kerry Albright, Deputy Director, UNICEF – of the Campbell Collaboration Coordinating Group on Children and Young People’s Wellbeing, the world-leading international social science research network for the production and dissemination of high quality, open and policy-relevant evidence syntheses.

Research Interests

  • Childhood developmental disability
  • Child protection, prevention and outcomes

Social Media

X: @nathanjhughes

Bluesky: @nathanjhughes.bsky.social

Publications