Clare Stone

I am the Director of Social Work at Lancaster and have the opportunity to work alongside dedicated and committed students and staff. I am a registered social worker, and worked within statutory services before moving into academia. My research and published work focuses primarily on competence for social work practice and I have particular interest in workplace learning. I have many years’ experience of teaching, academic leadership and I supervise doctoral students.

I am really proud to be part of the learning community at Lancaster University.

Shehzad Malik

I am currently the admissions tutor and also personal tutor for the social work programme.

I am a registered social worker and counsellor with over 35 years of experience with adults and young people. I worked with problem substance users in the NHS and Voluntary Sector for 15 years. I was a therapist in the Mental Health and Wellbeing Team at another University, before joining the team here at Lancaster.

I have a lifelong interest in mindfulness; as part of my Master's in Mindfulness Based Approaches, I researched its use with problem substance users. This dovetails with my passion for wellbeing and resilience, and feeds into my teaching and therapeutic work.

Alongside working with people I have over 30 years of teaching experience in a variety of settings. I currently teach the Social Work Practice 1 module which runs through the first year. This provides foundation skills in preparation for first placement. I consider self-care and resilience as essential professional and employability skills and embed these throughout my teaching.

I passionately believe in bringing heart into the classroom and into our work. This is consonant with our commitment to relationship based and trauma informed practice.

Chris Grover

As the Head of Department and a member of the social work team, I would be delighted to have you join us on our BA Social Work programme.

I am a social policy analyst interested in social security policy, poverty and money issues. My teaching is informed by my research that primarily focuses upon disability benefits, benefits for people in low paid work and support for people facing financial emergencies.

In the past, I have met students in their first year when I have taken a block of lectures on social welfare ideas and on poverty-related subjects. While I have less time for teaching now, as a Head of Department, I am still dedicated to ensuring that we create a supportive and positive environment for all of our students to thrive in.