Posts | The University of Sunderland

Published: April 3, 2023

Written by: Sarah Lonbay

We are really pleased to share the news that two members of our Centre for Applied Social Sciences (CASS) have been awarded a Vice-Chancellor’s Research and Knowledge Exchange (RKE) Fellowship. Dr. Lesley Deacon and Dr. Matt Durey have both been awarded the Vice-Chancellor’s RKE Fellowships which will give them dedicated time and resources to undertake activities that support the RKE environment in the university.

Senior Lecturer in Social Work and Applied Social Sciences Dr Lesley Deacon’s research primarily focused on how generic social work practice can effectively respond to individuals with specific, complex needs; by listening to, and advocating for, the service user voice using an emancipatory practice development framework. This is supported by the concept of the practitioner researcher – the need for practitioners to be researchers; and for research to be identified and developed through practice, in order to inform practice. Dr Deacon has designed an intensive research-mindedness teaching programme called Facilitated Practice-based Research ©University of Sunderland, to support practitioners in developing research capacity through doinga practice research project togetherwith research academics. The Fellowship will enable the next stage of development to embed this programme into research career pathways in social work and social care.

Dr Matthew Durey, Senior Lecturer in Social Science, focuses his research on areas of urban and cultural geography and sociology. He is interested in post-industrial cities and urban culture, cultural and creative industries, everyday practice, landscapes of inequalities, violence and resistance, and the theory and practice of social research. The Fellowship will enable Dr Durey to explore the cultural landscape of the City of Sunderland. In particular the changes surrounding the redevelopment projects around Keel Square and the Riverside, and their impacts on the city’s cultural economy, local communities, and the urban ‘sense of place’.