Dr Ciarán Murphy is Senior Lecturer in Social Work at Edge Hill University's Department of Social Work and Wellbeing. He is a qualified and registered social worker, having specialised in child care/protection. Ciarán is also a Board member, Trustee and Research Lead for the Association of Child Protection Professionals (AoCPP) (registered charity no. 1190441) and is Associate Editor of Child Abuse Review (ISSN: 1099-0852).

Before working in academia, Ciarán practised for 10 years in the areas of child protection, substance misuse, and education welfare. He formerly sat on the Greater Manchester Family Justice Board sub-group for improving outcomes for children in the Family Court. In his last practice position as a consultant social worker, Ciarán was instrumental in developing and implementing new assessment models for children and families social work.

Ciarán's research experience began in the evaluation of treatment services, and he was part of the initial team to evaluate the 'Holding Families' substance misuse model in both Greater Manchester and Lancashire. More recently, Ciarán's focus has been on elucidating the lived experience of practicing social workers, including their use of discretionary space and the barriers to child-centred child protection. His PhD is on the discretionary behaviour of statutory child protection social workers relative to the Munro Review of Child Protection's (2011) measures of 'child-centred' practice. His recent publications have considered the impact of a national policy of 'Austerity'; 'Ofsted Anxiety Disorder'; and the 'Baby P effect' on social workers' discretionary behaviour; the contradictory nature of 'Care Orders at home'; and the systemic factors driving child protection workforce instability.

Ciarán’s knowledge and expertise lead to frequent appearances in national media, usually in the context of discussing the challenges facing the child protection system, and (regrettably) often following a high-profile child death tragedy. Ciarán is passionate about elucidating the barriers to child-centred child protection practice, especially those which continue to contribute to cases of children ‘slipping through the proverbial net of protection’.

Ciarán remains an advocate for social justice, anti-oppressive, anti-racist, and child-centred child protection practice. He is also a fan of the Houston Texans.