Professor Davy Hayes
Job Title
Honorary Professor
Research interests
Research interests
Select Publications
Roulston, A., Mackle, D., Ross, J., Montgomery, L., MacDermott, D., Boyle, S., McFadden, P. & Hayes, D., 23 Jul 2025, (Early online date). Promoting staff retention in social work: identifying the ‘push’ and the ‘pull’ factors from the perspective of newly qualified social workers, British Journal of Social Work, bcaf152, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcaf152
Hayes, D. (2024). HURTing: An Analysis of Service User and Carer Referrals to a UK Social Work Regulator, British Journal of Social Work, 54 (1): 494–513, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcad211
Barter, C., Batool, F., Charles, J., Devaney, J., Farrelly, N., Hayes, D., Kurdi, Z., Millar, A., Monks, C., Radford, L., Richardson-Foster, H., Edwards, R. T., Winrow, E. & Stanley, N. (2024). Conducting large-scale mixed-method research on harm and abuse prevention with children under 12: learning from a UK feasibility study, Children and Society, 38 (1): 79-96, https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12658
Hayes, D., Roulston, A., O'Connor, E. & Shore, C. (2023). Failing a social work practice placement: Differences between male and female students across Ireland, Journal of Practice Teaching and Learning, 20 (2): 67-88, https://doi.org/10.1921/jpts.v20i2.2046
Stanley, N., Devaney, J., Kurdi, Z., Ozdemir, U., Anne Barter, C., Monks, C., Edwards, R. T., Batool, F., Charles, J., Farrelly, N., Hayes, D., Millar, A., Thompson, T., Winrow, E. & Radford, L. (2023). What makes for effectiveness when starting early – Learning from an integrated school-based violence and abuse prevention programme for children under 12, Child Abuse and Neglect, 139, 106109, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106109
McCafferty, P., Duffy, J. & Hayes, D. (2021). Permanency decisions in child welfare: A qualitative study, British Journal of Social Work. 51 (6): 2134-2154, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcab095
Butler, M., Percy, A., Hayes, D. and Devaney, J. (2019). Designing prison-based parenting programs to maximise their outcomes, International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 63 (7): 975–992, https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X18811590
Hayes, D., Butler, M., Devaney, J. and Percy, A. (2018). Allowing imprisoned fathers to parent: maximising the potential benefits of prison-based parenting programmes, Child Care in Practice, 24 (2): 181-197, https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1080/13575279.2017.1420038
Background
I qualified as a social worker in 1998 and worked as both a practitioner and trainer in Family and Child Care services in North and West Belfast for fifteen years. I joined the staff of Queen’s University Belfast in 2005 and am currently Professor of Child Protection and Safeguarding in the School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work and Head of Department (Social Work). I contribute to social work education at both qualifying and post-qualifying levels and undertake research which aims to identify ways in which the experiences of both those delivering and receiving child protection and welfare services can be improved.
My research interests are focused on service users’ experiences of the child protection and criminal justice systems, the involvement of family members in child protection and child welfare processes, the practice and experiences of professionals who operate the child protection system, and social work assessment and decision making in child welfare. I sit on the editorial board of the journal Child Abuse Review, am a member of the Board of the Northern Ireland Social Care Council, and Chair of the Northern Ireland Standing Committee of the British Association of Social Workers (BASW).