Gillian MacIntyre

Gillian MacIntyre is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Work and Social Policy at the University of Strathclyde, where she serves as Programme Lead for the Postgraduate Certificate in Mental Health Social Work and Director of Knowledge Exchange for the Department of Social Work and Social Policy. She coordinates the university's service user and carer network in partnership with Glasgow Caledonian University and holds key roles on the Departmental Management Committee, Learning and Teaching Committee, and Gender, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, leading the department's Athena Swan Bronze Award implementation.

Her educational background includes:

• Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Glasgow (2007) focused on transitions for young people with learning disabilities
• Master of Arts in Social Policy and Sociology (First Class Honours) from the University of Glasgow (1999)

Gillian's research centers on adult social care with critical emphasis on learning disabilities, mental health, and citizenship. She pioneers inclusive research methodologies involving people with lived experience as peer researchers, particularly examining parenthood challenges for individuals with intellectual disabilities, gender-based violence intersections, and transitions in social care systems. Her work consistently addresses systemic barriers to inclusion while developing practical frameworks like the Strathclyde Citizenship Measure.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals a strategic evolution toward co-produced solutions addressing complex intersections of disability, gender, and social exclusion. Her 2023-2025 output demonstrates increasing focus on trauma-informed justice systems, pandemic recovery for health workers, and homelessness transitions, while maintaining core commitment to participatory research that directly informs policy and practice through toolkits and implementation frameworks.

Her significant contributions have been recognized through:

• CelebrateHER award (2023) for advancing gender equality
• Kay McDougall Prize (2025) for outstanding social work research

Gillian actively supervises PhD candidates in learning disability and social care research while securing substantial funding including ESRC's £1.2M project on homelessness transitions (2023-2028) and abrdn Financial Fairness Trust's research on disability benefits systems (2024-2025). Her grant portfolio emphasizes academic-community partnerships and knowledge exchange, directly supporting the Department's strategic focus on impactful research that shapes social work practice and policy development across Scotland.

She leads the ENACT project studying mental wellbeing of health workers during crises and coordinates the innovative service user and carer network that fundamentally shapes social work education through co-designed curriculum development, selection processes, and assessment frameworks, creating a robust pipeline for lived experience integration across all academic programs.