David Shemmings

PROFESSOR DAVID SHEMMINGS OBE PhD is Professor of Child Protection Research at the University of Kent, UK and Visiting Professor of Child Protection Research at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Prior to moving to Kent in 2007, David was Professor of Social Work Research at Middlesex University. He qualified in 1974 and worked with traumatised children for a number of years. He then became a policy adviser for services to children and families to the Director of Social Services in Essex and was then Deputy Director of Social Services in Southend, before joining the University of East Anglia, Norwich in 1988. David spent 17 years at UEA, where he completed his PhD under the supervision of Professor David Howe.

David is the author of over 60 articles, books and chapters on relationally-based social work theory, research and practice. With his partner, Yvonne, he published in 2011 Understanding Disorganized Attachment: Theory and Practice of Working with Children and Adults (JKP Books) and, with David Wilkins and the late Brian Corby, Child Abuse: A Evidence Base for Confident Practice (McGraw-Hill). More recently in 2014 David and Yvonne edited Assessing Disorganised Attachment Behaviour in Children: An Evidence-based Model for Understanding and Supporting Families (JKP Books). David also co-directs with Yvonne the Attachment and Relationship-based Practice training in over 40 child protection organisations across the UK and Europe.

Finally, he is co-Director, with Dr Jane Reeves, of the online Centre for Child Protection at the University of Kent which has recently established a multi-disciplinary and international distance-learning MA in Advanced Child Protection as well as ‘serious, interactive games’ to enhance practitioners’ skills.

David was awarded an OBE for Services to Child Protection in the June 2014 Queen’s Birthday Honours List