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Faculty of

Humanities and Social Sciences

Public Policy and Professional Practice

Professor Charlotte Williams OBE

Title: Professor of Social Justice and Social Work
Head of School of Public Policy and Professional Practice
Phone: +44 (0) 1782 734349
Email:
Location: Chancellor's Building : CBA 0.044
Role:
Contacting me:
Williams_Charlotte

Charlotte Williams OBE is Professor of Social Justice and Social Work and Head of the School of Public Policy and Professional Practice at Keele University.  She was awarded the OBE in 2007 for services to ethnic minority groups and to equal opportunities. Professor Williams is a qualified social worker and has been involved in the education and training of social workers for over 25 years.  During her professional career she has worked in a number of local authority settings in the UK and has also spent time working in social development in Guyana, South America.  She has held a number of public appointments including serving as Chair of the Welsh Assembly Government Task Group on the Child Poverty Strategy, membership of the Steering Group for the Evaluation of the Welsh Government’s Communities First Anti-Poverty Strategy and is a past member of the Commission for Racial Equality's (CRE) National Advisory Committee for Wales. Professor Williams was a member of the former Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work (CCETSW) Committees both in Wales and UK wide.  Honorary appointments include: Visiting Professor Liverpool Hope University, Honorary Fellow of the University of Wales, Newport. She is a member of the Editorial Collective of the leading social policy journal Critical Social Policy and is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Social Work.  She has a interest in literature of the Caribbean and Wales and enjoys a parallel career as a writer (see Further information).

Charlotte Williams’ main research interests are focused on contemporary multiculturalisms, race and ethnicity in welfare policy and practice, issues of governance, equality and responsiveness in public services as well as issues of access, engagement and participation.  Her interests extend internationally to issues of social work with minority groups in a variety of national contexts across Europe. She has a specialist interest in devolved forms of government and in particular, the governance of Wales as a point of comparison for intra-UK welfare policy. Her PhD, entitled Institutional Responses to ‘Race’ and Ethnicity, considered a range of institutions within the national context of Wales in terms of their responsiveness to ethnic diversity.

 She also writes and researches aspects of social work education and training and practice for work in multicultural contexts and issues of equality and diversity more generally. In 2010 she presented the keynote address at the SoSnet conference at the University of Rovaniemi, Lapland and in 2011 gave the keynote address as the 10th TISSA Conference in the Czech Republic.

Selected Public/Official Reports

  • Developing Effective Engagement for Consultation with Black and Ethnic Minorities in Rural Areas. (2009) Carnegie UK Trust (with Hong Baker)
  • Race Equality and ‘Cultural Competency’ in Qualifying Social Work Education in Wales. (2009) Wales Equality and Diversity in Health and Social Care Service.
  •  Advice and Information in Discrimination Cases in Wales. (2006) Department for Trade and Industry and  Commission for Equalities and Human Rights.
  •  Exploring the feasibility of a health and social care research and development network covering black and ethnic minority groups in Wales. A scoping study (2005) funded by the Welsh Assembly Government. (with Saltus, R, Merril, J, Olumide, G, Karmani G)
  •  The BEST Report: Ethnic Minorities in North Wales: A Mapping Exercise. (2005)  Report available at  www.best-cymru.org  (with Hold, M, Turunen, S, Jeffries, J.)
  •  Bridging the Gap. (2005) Access to Advice and Support for Ethnic Minority Groups. Commissioned by Legal Services Commission (with Turunen, S)
  •  Snakes and Ladders: Advice and Support in Employment Discrimination Cases in Wales. (2003) Full report available from Commission for Racial Equality (with Borland, J, Griffiths, A, Roberts, G, Bradshaw, H, and Morris, E)
  •  Motivations and Prompts in Public Appointments. (2003) National Assembly for Wales (with Day, G)

Selected Publications

  • Williams C and Johnson MRD. 2010. Race and Ethnicity in a Welfare Society. Open University Press.
  • WILLIAMS CF and De Lima, P.. 2006. Devolution, Multicultural Citizenship and Race Equality: From Laissez Faire to Nationally Responsible policies . Critical Social Policy, vol. 26(3), 498-522. doi>
  • WILLIAMS CF and Soydan, H.. 2005. When and How Does Ethnicity Matter? A Cross-National Study of Social Work Responses to Ethnicity in Child Protection Cases. British Journal of Social Work, vol. 35(6), 901-920. doi>
  • Williams CF, Soydan H, Jergeby U, Froslund M. 2003. Responding to Ethnicity: A cross national evaluation of social work responses in child protection cases. Social Work in Europe, vol. 9(3), 39-51.
  • Williams CF. 2009. The melting pot and the British meltdown. In Breaking Up Britain: Four nations after a Union. Perryman M (Ed.). London: Lawrence and Wishart.

Full Publications List show

Books

  • Williams C and Johnson MRD. 2010. Race and Ethnicity in a Welfare Society. Open University Press.
  • Williams C, Evans N, O'Leary P. 2003. A tolerant nation?. University Of Wales Press.
  • Williams C, Soydan H, Johnson M. 1998. Social work and minorities. Psychology Press.
  • Williams CF. Social Policy for Social Welfare Practice in a Devolved Wales. Venture Press.

Journal Articles

  • Williams C and Mooney G. 2008. Decentring Social Policy? Devolution and the Discipline of Social Policy: A Commentary. Journal of Social Policy, vol. 37(3), 489-507. doi>
  • WILLIAMS CF. 2007. Revisiting the Rural/Race Debates: A View from the Welsh Countryside. Journal of Ethnic and Racial Studies, vol. 30(5), 741-765. doi>
  • WILLIAMS CF and De Lima, P.. 2006. Devolution, Multicultural Citizenship and Race Equality: From Laissez Faire to Nationally Responsible policies . Critical Social Policy, vol. 26(3), 498-522. doi>
  • Williams CF and Mooney G. 2006. Forging 'New Ways of Life' Social Policy and Nation in the devolved Scotland and Wales. Critical Social Policy, vol. 26(3), 608-629.
  • Williams CF. 2005. Emergent Multiculturalism? Challenging the National Story of Wales. Journal for the study of British Cultures, 25-37.
  • WILLIAMS CF and Soydan, H.. 2005. When and How Does Ethnicity Matter? A Cross-National Study of Social Work Responses to Ethnicity in Child Protection Cases. British Journal of Social Work, vol. 35(6), 901-920. doi>
  • WILLIAMS CF. 2004. Access to justice and social inclusion: the policy challenges in Wales. Journal of Social and Family Law, vol. 26(1), 53-68. doi>
  • Williams CF. 2004. Passions and Pathologies in the Politics of Minority Ethnic Participation in Governance. Wales Journal of Law and Policy, vol. 3(2), 157-173.
  • Williams CF, Soydan H, Jergeby U, Froslund M. 2003. Responding to Ethnicity: A cross national evaluation of social work responses in child protection cases. Social Work in Europe, vol. 9(3), 39-51.
  • Williams CF. 2001. Can Mainstreaming Deliver? The Equal Opportunities Agenda and The National Assembly for Wales. Contemporary Wales, vol. 14, 57-79.
  • Williams CF and Chaney P. 2001. Devolution and Identities: The Experience of Ethnic Minorities in Wales. Soundings, vol. 18, 169-183.

Chapters

  • Williams CF. 2009. The melting pot and the British meltdown. In Breaking Up Britain: Four nations after a Union. Perryman M (Ed.). London: Lawrence and Wishart.

In undergraduate/postgraduate social work award programs:

  • Social work theory and practice
  • Social policy
  • Social work research
  • Key theories in social sciences
  • Equality and diversity
  • Poverty and disadvantage
  • Working with communities
  • Anti discriminatory practice

 In continuing education:

  • Leadership and management
  • Critical social policy
  • Equality and diversity
  • Anti discriminatory practice
  • Evidence-based practice
  • Professions and professionalism

  • Practitioner research.

Alongside a successful academic career Professor Williams has engaged in the literary life of her home countries, Wales and Guyana. She is a member of the National Library Advisory Group (Wales), former member of the editorial board of the international arts and culture magazine PLANET, Member of Council for the Mostyn Art Gallery, and has served as Chair of the judging panel (2004) for the Welsh Book of the Year literary prize. In 2003 Charlotte acted as Chair for the Africa Centre’s summer reading tour. She has a number of non-fiction publications including those in the Kunapipi Journal of Post-Colonial Writing, New Welsh Review and Planet. In 2002 she published the prize winning memoir ‘Sugar and Slate’ which won Welsh Book of the Year in 2003. Most recently she has co-edited (with her sister Evelyn) a text on the life and works of her father ‘Denis Williams: New and Collected Essays’ Rodopi 2010.

Charlotte is Welsh/Guyanese by background. She lives in Wales yet sustains a strong network of connections in the Caribbean. In 2011 she acted as Judge in the BoCAS Literary Festival, Trinidad for the non-fiction category. She has published numerous articles, think pieces and commentaries, given a number of public lectures and made short films and radio presentations on the themes of multiculturalism. These have included:

Can We Live Together? Wales and the Multicultural Question (2005) Transactions Vol. 11: pp. 219-233 Lecture given to the Cymmrodorion Society at the British Academy, London, September 23rd 2004.

Strange Encounters, Lifting the Lid on Race in Wales (2003) Planet No 157 Spring 2003 pp. 19-24

Devolution’s Colour Code (2003) Cardiff Institute of Welsh Affairs, Agenda Spring  pp. 26-28

From Llandudno to Llanrumney: Inscribing the Nation (2003) New Welsh Review No 62 pp. 27-34

There are many ways of being Welsh (1998) Film, Chasing the Dragon Series. BBC Films. First shown on BBC Digital, 1998.

Colour in the Pictures (1997) Planet No 125 Summer.  pp.25-30

Guyana Dreams of Wales (1997) Planet No 126 Autumn   pp. 17-21 reprinted in Kunapipi Journal of Post-Colonial Writing, The Windrush Commemorative Issue, Vol XX (1998) No 1, pp.127-131