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Name

Nigel Patrick Thomas
Affiliation

Professor of Childhood and Youth Research and Co-Director of The Centre for Children and Young People’s Participation, University of Central Lancashire
Profile

Nigel was previously a social work practitioner, manager and advisor, and then a social work educator. His research interests are principally in child welfare, children’s rights, children’s participation and theories of childhood. His empirical and theoretical research on children’s participation has been influential internationally.

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Publications

Thomas, N. (2002) Children, Family and the State: Decision-making and Child Participation, Policy Press.
Thomas, N. (2005) Social Work with Young People in Care: Looking after children in theory and practice, Palgrave.
Thomas, N. (2007) ‘Towards a theory of children’s participation’, International Journal of Children’s Rights 15(2), 199-218.
Thomas, N. (ed.) (2009) Children, Politics and Communication: Participation at the Margins, Policy Press.
Percy-Smith, B. and Thomas, N. (eds) (2010) A Handbook of Children and Young People’s Participation: perspectives from theory and practice, Routledge.
Thomas, N. (2012) ‘Love, rights and solidarity: studying children’s participation using Honneth’s theory of recognition’, Childhood 19(4), 453-466.
Westwood, J., Larkins, C., Moxon, D., Perry, Y. and Thomas, N. (2014) Participation, Citizenship and Intergenerational Relations in Children and Young People’s Lives, Palgrave.
Previous projects

Study of children’s participation in decision making when looked after, Nuffield Foundation 1996-8 (£62,000).
Study of needs of ‘young carers’ in Wales, National Assembly for Wales, 2001 (£24,000).
Evaluation of work of Children’s Commissioner for Wales, Children’s Commissioner for Wales, 2005-8 (£70,000).
Involving children and young people in staff appraisal and student assessment, Children’s Workforce Development Council, 2008-9 (with Andy Bilson and Lancashire Children’s Rights, £30,000).
Improving approaches to wellbeing in schools: what role does recognition play? Australian Research Council Linkage Project 2012-13 (led by Southern Cross University, total grant $186,611).
Improving wellbeing through student participation at school. Australian Research Council Linkage Project 2014-16 (led by Southern Cross University, total grant $320,000).
Independent Advocacy: impact and outcomes for children and young people, Office of Children’s Commissioner for England, 2015 (£55,000).