Research Assistant

I joined the University of Bedfordshire in July 2020, working within the Contextual Safeguarding team. I work on the National Scale Up project, which works with five local authorities in England and Wales to embed a Contextual Safeguarding approach to extra-familial harm that young people face.

I also work across the Contextual Safeguarding team on various strategic research projects, and support in managing the Contextual Safeguarding Academics Network.

Before joining the University, I was working as a Bid Writer for The Children’s Society, a national charity that supports young people in the UK facing disadvantage, including exploitation and extra-familial harm.

I completed my MA in Human Rights at University College London in 2018. My focus was on the sexual abuse and exploitation of women and children perpetrated by UN peacekeepers in conflict and post-conflict zones.

I explored representations of gender and race in the policies developed by the UN to tackle the issue of sexual violence amongst their own peacekeepers, using a post-colonial feminist lens to understand the power at play in militarized representations of victimhood and the role of peacekeepers as "saviours" of vulnerable women and children.

Other References

• www.linkedin.com
• www.researchgate.net

Qualifications

• MA Human Rights (Merit) - University College London
• BA Hons World Religions and Theology (1^st Class) – Trinity College Dublin

Teaching Expertise

• Support for teaching team for the CS short-course

Research Interests

• Human rights in policy and practice
• Reflective research practice and ethical approaches to research
• Contextual approaches to safeguarding young people from extra-familial harm
• Discourse and power in policy and practice
• Gender, race, and intersectionality in understanding exploitation, vulnerability, and poverty

Projects

• National Scale Up – Contextual Safeguarding (current)

Contact Details

T: +44 (0)7758385627
E: molly.manister@beds.ac.uk