Gillian Buck

Gillian Buck is an Associate Professor of Social Work at the University of Chester's Faculty of Health, Medicine and Society. She leads a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship on lived experience-led criminal justice and supervises postgraduate researchers. Her career bridges academic roles since 2006 with frontline social work in youth justice and sexual violence prevention.

• Education:
  • PhD in Social Work (Keele University, 2016)
  • Master of Social Work (University of Liverpool, 2003)
  • BA in Literature, Life and Thought (Liverpool John Moores University, 2001)

Research Interests focus on prisoner-led prison regulation, peer mentoring, coproduction in criminal justice, and arts-informed methodologies. Her work centers on marginalized voices in policy-making and service design.

Recent Publications emphasize participatory research with criminalized communities (2025), neurodiversity in social work education (2024), and lived experience leadership in crime prevention (2022). Projects like the UKRI-funded Prison Regulation for Safer Societies (2020-2024) and current leadership of a 2024 FLF study highlight her commitment to transformative justice.

Awards & Recognition:

• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2015)
• UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship (2024)

Teaching & Supervision spans social work BA/MA/Degree apprenticeships, covering human development, research methods, and suicide first aid. She also coordinates 'learning together' workshops for higher education access among people with criminal convictions.