Profile

Helen Connolly, Research Assistant 

Following a period of study at a prestigious red brick university, I opted to complete my degree in the social sciences here at the University of Bedfordshire and in 2005 I was awarded a first class degree in Applied Social Studies.

Shortly after graduating I was pleased to be offered a research assistantship post within the faculty.  This post is incredibly rewarding and entails a variety of stimulating and worthwhile responsibilities.

First and foremost I am funded by the University to complete a PhD degree. 

My doctoral research is a collaborative project working with groups of separated refugee and asylum seeking children living in the United Kingdom. 

The aim of the fieldwork is to promote an awareness amongst participants of the principles contained within The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and then to examine how participants frame their asylum and resettlement experiences relative to their understanding of the Convention. 

I am also currently involved in a longitudinal research project that has been commissioned to map, over a ten year period, the outcomes and settings of a group of children and young people within the public care system.

I am regularly invited to teach seminars to undergraduates and also tutor a number of final year students as they undertake their dissertation projects.

My teaching and tutoring interests include issues pertaining to asylum, gender and violence, children’s rights and child welfare.