Accessibility statement

Professor Ian F Shaw

BA (Econ) (Sheffield), MA (Sheffield), MA (Sheffield Hallam), PhD (Wales), Dip App Social Studies (Swansea)

  • Emeritus Professor, University of York
  • S R Nathan Professor of Social Work, National University of Singapore

Areas of expertise

  • Practice/research relationship
  • Qualitative methods
  • Evaluation
  • History of social work and sociology
  • Science and social work
  • Creative writing

Biography

I have been working in a university most of my career, after five years working as a probation officer. My later interests within social work and social science focus on several themes:

  • The practice/research relationship
  • Understanding the nature of social work as an applied social science both in its own right and in relation to disciplines like sociology
  • Qualitative research and evaluation methodology, practitioner and action research
  • Developing social work research strategies
  • Technology and professional practice
  • The history of social work research in the USA and Europe
  • Social Work within Asian nation states. 

My first degree was in sociology, and it has continued to influence my social work practice and, subsequently, my university work. I followed my first degree with social work training in South Wales, before returning to Sheffield in the north of England to work as a Probation Officer for five years. I arrived in York as Professor of Social Work in Spring 2003, following a long career in the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University. I am now Emeritus at York, continuing with several research and writing projects. I worked full-time from 2017 to 2019 as S R Nathan Professor of Social Work in the Social Work Department at the National University of Singapore, and will be returning there in 2021.

Much of my teaching has been at the borders of practice and research, including qualitative methods, dissertation and thesis skills, and evidence and knowledge for practice. I have aimed, in addition, to develop a view of professional practice in social work that embeds an evaluative dimension as part and parcel of good direct practice. I have also taught social work practice through eLearning, utilizing packages for which I took the lead developer role. My current teaching is around Social Theory and Social Work and Qualitative Methods.

In 2020 I completed a Masters degree in Creative Writing and have published a number of poems.

Professional activities

  • Founder Editor of Qualitative Social Work
  • Founder European Conference for Social Work Research
  • Founder Chair and then Vice Chair of the European Social Work Research Association
  • S. R. Nathan Professor of Social Work, National University of Singapore, Summer 2016-2019; and from August 2021
  • Co-Editor of Policy Press book series for ESWRA, ‘Research and Social Work' 2016-2019

Contact details

Professor Ian Shaw
Emeritus Professor
School for Business and Society

  

Shaw, I and Ow, R. Eds. (2019) Asian Social Work:Professional Work in National Contexts.

 

  

Shaw, I. (2019) Research and the Social Work Picture.

 

Social Work and Research in Advanced Welfare States

Høgsbro, K. and Shaw, I. Eds. (2017) Social Work and Research in Advanced Welfare States.

 

Private Troubles or Public Issues?

Lorenz, W. and Shaw, I. Eds. (2017) Private Troubles or Public Issues? Challenges for Social Work Research.

 

The British Journal of Social Work: A Case Study of Applied Scholarship by Ian Shaw & Hannah Jobling

Shaw, I. et al. (2016) BJSW - A Case Study of Applied Scholarship (PDF , 1,665kb).

 

SW Science - Ian Shaw

Shaw, I. (2016) Social Work Science. New York: Columbia University Press. 

 

SW Research - Ian Shaw

Shaw, I. , Hardy, M. and Marsh, J. (2015) Social Work Research. London: Sage Publications.

 

Book cover: Doing Qualitative Research in Social Work

Shaw, I. and Holland, S. (2014) Doing Qualitative Research in Social Work. London: Sage Publications.

 

Book cover: Practice and Research

Shaw, I. (2012) Practice and Research. Aldershot: Columbia University Press. 

 

Book cover: Evaluating in Practice

Shaw, I. (2011) Evaluating in Practice. 2nd Ed. Aldershot: Ashgate Publications.

 

Book cover: Social Work and ICT

Hill, A. and Shaw, I. (2010) Social Work and ICT. London: Sage.