Professor Nigel Patrick Thomas

Profile

Nigel Patrick Thomas is Professor Emeritus of Childhood and Youth at the University of Central Lancashire and founder of The Centre for Children and Young People’s Participation. He was previously a social work practitioner, manager and advisor, and later a social work educator. His research interests are principally in child welfare, children’s rights, children and young people’s participation, and theories of childhood and intergenerational relations. He is currently part of a study of ethical practice and the meaning of child safety in different institutional contexts, funded by the Australian Research Council.

Research

Publications

Children, Family and the State: Decision-Making and Child Participation (Macmillan 2000, Policy Press 2002); An Introduction to Early Childhood Studies (with Trisha Maynard, Sage 2004, 2009); Social Work with Young People in Care: Looking after children in theory and practice (Palgrave 2005); Children, Politics and Communication: Participation at the Margins (Policy Press 2009); A Handbook of Children and Young People’s Participation: perspectives from theory and practice (with Barry Percy-Smith, Routledge 2010); and Participation, Citizenship and Intergenerational Relations in Children and Young People’s Lives (with Joanne Westwood, Cath Larkins, Dan Moxon and Yasmin Perry, Palgrave Macmillan 2014).

Expertise