معرفی
Natasha Rennolds serves as a Lecturer in Social Work at the University of East Anglia's School of Social Work since February 2023, following the completion of her PhD in the School of Education and Lifelong Learning. She is a dedicated member of both the Centre for Research on Children and Families and the Critical Cultural Studies In Education. With over 15 years of pre-academic experience in youth and community sectors, including strategic roles in safeguarding children partnerships, Rennolds brings practical insights to her academic work in child welfare and social work education.
Dr. Rennolds earned her PhD from the University of East Anglia's School of Education and Lifelong Learning, where she began her academic journey in 2018. Her doctoral research centered on youth participation and safeguarding, forming the basis for her current scholarly contributions.
Rennolds' scholarship critically examines the lived experiences of adolescents and young adults, particularly those in care systems, with emphasis on relational dynamics, future aspirations, and pathways to citizenship. Her interdisciplinary approach bridges social work, youth studies, and critical theory to interrogate safeguarding practices within complex multi-agency environments. Methodologically, she pioneers creative and participatory approaches informed by critical posthumanism and post-qualitative inquiry, challenging conventional research frameworks to amplify marginalized youth voices and reimagine social work interventions.
Analysis of Rennolds' recent publications reveals a cohesive research trajectory focused on improving child welfare systems through innovative methodologies. Her 2025 article "Hopeful Futures" introduces participatory reimagining in care-experienced research, while 2024-2025 projects include scoping studies of children's social care services and youth justice safeguarding. These works consistently apply critical perspectives to evaluate multi-agency collaboration, adoption disruptions, and citizenship formation, demonstrating how creative methodologies can transform policy and practice for vulnerable youth populations across England.
Dr. Rennolds' recognition currently centers on research impact rather than formal awards; no major scientific prizes or fellowships are documented in her public profile.
Actively mentoring the next generation of social work scholars, Rennolds accepts PhD students and has contributed to doctoral supervision through UEA's graduate programs. Her externally funded research includes three significant projects: a National Institute for Health and Care Research-funded scoping exercise mapping children's social care across East of England (2024), a youth justice safeguarding study commissioned by New Roads (2023-2025), and Department for Education analysis of serious case reviews (2021-2022). These grants total over £200,000 and involve multi-institutional collaborations with local authorities and charities.
As a core member of UEA's Centre for Research on Children and Families, Rennolds contributes to interdisciplinary investigations of child protection systems and family support interventions. Simultaneously, her affiliation with the Critical Cultural Studies In Education group enables cross-pollination of ideas between social work practice and critical pedagogy, particularly regarding youth civic engagement and decolonial approaches to citizenship education.
