Rate My Professor Jonathan Scourfield

Professor Jonathan Scourfield is Professor of Social Work in the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University, where he began his academic career in 1996 as a tutorial fellow and progressed through lecturer (1999-2005), senior lecturer (2005-2009), reader (2009-2011), to professor since 2011. He holds qualifications including DipSW and PhD from Cardiff University on the construction of gender in child protection work, a history degree from Cambridge University, and teacher training in London. Before academia, he worked as a secondary school teacher, group worker in a therapeutic community, and probation officer, and remains a registered social worker with Social Care Wales. From January 2018 to May 2021, he was seconded to the Welsh Government as specialist policy adviser to the Minister for social care. He currently serves as Deputy Director of CASCADE, the Children’s Social Care Research and Development Centre, Deputy Director of the National Centre for Suicide Prevention and Self-harm Research, and executive member of the Centre for Adult Social Care Research. A Senior Research Leader with Health and Care Research Wales (2022-2028), he is a Fellow of the Joint University Social Work Association, Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and trustee of the Family Rights Group. During 2026-2027, he holds a visiting professorship at Lund University, Sweden. He is Welsh-speaking, a media commentator, and available for postgraduate supervision.