About Dr Carrie Phillips
I qualified with an MA in Social Work in 2006 and practiced in statutory social work with adults for over 12 years. My specialist areas of practice were working with people with physical impairments or long-term health needs, particularly those with neurological conditions or acquired brain injury.
I have been a practice educator since 2012, and I joined the University of Sunderland in 2019, to primarily teach on MA Social Work and the CPD course Advanced Safeguarding Adults.
I completed my PhD in 2025, looking at social work practice in acute NHS hospitals. My current areas of interest are: multidisciplinary working and social workers within the NHS, mental capacity and acquired brain injury, Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Care Act 2014, and practice research skills.
I am a Senior Fellow of Advance HE, having achieved this in 2022.
Teaching and supervision
I am module leader for SWKM30 Social Work Research, SWKM32 Social Work Dissertation and SWKM41 Advanced Safeguarding Adults. My other teaching includes social work practice with adults, social policy, multidisciplinary working and critical analysis.
I am available to supervise post-graduate research students.
Research
I completed my PhD, titled '‘It's heart breaking, funny, sad, and confusing, but it’s amazing.’ A critical realist study of social work in acute NHS hospitals', in 2025. Findings from this thesis have been published in journals including the European Journal of Social Work and the British Journal of Social Work, and have been used to inform the British Association of Social Workers' witness statement for the Covid Inquiry.
I have been involved in various facilitated practice research projects, led by Dr Lesley Deacon, including research into the meaning of consent for families referred to Early Help, and newly qualified social workers' experiences of their first year in employment.
I was also involved as a researcher in the project 'I've been asked to return to my home country’: An exploration of discrimination experienced by Eastern European women in Tyne and Wear with colleagues Dr Louise Harvey Golding, Dr Diane Simpson and Julie Smiles, with Julia Wysocka and Michal Chantkowski from ICOS.
In 2018, I was seconded to the University of Northumbria as part of a NESWA pilot. I co-produced an evaluation of the project for NESWA, with Dr John Cavener, University of Northumbria, and an article for Social Work Education.
I am interested in supervising post-graduate students with an interest in social work with adults, social work in healthcare, adult safeguarding, mental capacity, and care ethics. I have experience of qualitative and mixed-methods methodologies.