John Devaney

Professor John Devaney serves as Dean and Head of the School of Social and Political Science at the University of Edinburgh, holding the Centenary Chair of Social Work. His career spans academic leadership, active research on family violence, and frontline practice experience in Northern Ireland.

• Current roles: Full-time academic, research-active professor
• Key affiliations: University of Edinburgh, British Association for Child Protection

Research Focus: Devaney specializes in domestic violence, child maltreatment, and social work education. His work bridges qualitative and quantitative methodologies, examining:

• Domestic violence perpetrator programs
• Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)
• Policy development and evaluation
• Impact of childhood adversity across lifecourse

Key Publications (2024-2025): Recent articles analyze child protection systems, trauma interventions for care-experienced children, and socio-ecological models for bereaved youth. His research emphasizes longitudinal data analysis and cross-sector policy learning.

Awards & Recognition:

• Winston Churchill Fellowship (2012)
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Supervision: Currently mentoring PhD students in areas including perpetrator behavior, social isolation effects, and cross-national child protection comparisons. Leads implementation research on Scotland's Bairns Hoose model adaptation from Barnahus.