Professor Ruth Emond

Professor

Social Work Colin Bell Building, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA

Professor Ruth Emond

Contact details

About me

I have been practicing as a social worker since 1992, primarily in the area of children and families work. I currently work part time at the University of Stirling and part time at Family Change (a therapeutic service for children and families who have experienced trauma which is funded and managed by Perth and Kinross Council). I qualified as a Play Therapist in 2009 and have found the principles of play based practice to be highly effective in working with children and their carers.  At the University, I am the director of the MSc in Social Work Studies (https://www.stir.ac.uk/postgraduate/programme-information/prospectus/applied-social-science/social-work-studies/) and the pathway lead for the PGCert in Advanced Practice Skills. I have a keen interest in supporting students to feel confident in their direct work with service users and developing the skills this requires. The Advanced Practice Skills pathway is targeted at professionals working with children and their families and can form part of the MSc Applied Professional Studies. You can find out more about this course here: https://www.stir.ac.uk/postgraduate/programme-information/prospectus/applied-social-science/applied-professional-studies/ Much of my research work has centred on how looked after children use and navigate ‘ the everyday'. I have explored friendships, school and routines as everyday events which hold significance for children. My work has involved ethnography in the UK, Ireland and Cambodia. Along with Ian McIntosh and Samantha Punch, I have been exploring the food and food practices used by looked after children and their carers. Visit the project website for more information (https://www.foodforthoughtproject.info). I am currently working on projects exploring the experience and meaning of 'therapeutic care' and also the recording of group experiences in residential care.

Looked after children Children's friendships Play Routines and rituals in daily life Food and food practices

Research projects (6)

Living Archives in Residential Child Care: using the past to inform the future
PI: Professor Ruth Emond
Funded by: Arts and Humanities Research Council
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Everyday care: what makes it therapeutic for children in residential care?
PI: Professor Ruth Emond
Funded by: The Sir Halley Stewart Trust
–

Creating better lives? An Evaluation of the Life Changes Trust
PI: Professor Louise McCabe
Funded by: Life Changes Trust
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Safer Places Evaluation
PI: Professor Ruth Emond
Funded by: Aberlour Child Care Trust
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Food for Thought: Food based training, assessment and intervention tools for carers of looked after young people
PI: Professor Ruth Emond
Funded by: Economic and Social Research Council
–

Food Practices in an Institutional Context: Children, Care and Control
PI: Professor Samantha Punch
Funded by: Economic and Social Research Council
–

Outputs (49)

Article

Finding traces of everyday life in unusual places: looking beyond case files in German and Scottish residential child care

Emond R, Eßer F, Schäfer M, Buncombe M, Burns A, Lucas S & Magee K (2025) Finding traces of everyday life in unusual places: looking beyond case files in German and Scottish residential child care [Spuren des Alltags an ungewöhnlichen Orten: Ein Blick über den Tellerrand in deutscher und schottischer Heimerziehung]. European Journal of Social Work. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691457.2024.2411283

Book Chapter

Creating Spaces to Care: Children's Rights and Food Practices in Residential Care

McIntosh I, Punch S & Emond R (2016) Creating Spaces to Care: Children's Rights and Food Practices in Residential Care. In: Kallio K, Mills S & Skelton T (eds.) Politics, Citizenship and Rights. Geographies of Children and Young People, 7. Singapore: Springer, pp. 39-53. http://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-981-4585-57-6_16

Book Chapter

Children, Food and Care Research

Punch S, Emond R, McIntosh I & Lightowler C (2015) Children, Food and Care Research. In: Täubig V (ed.) Essen und Bildung. Ein vergessenes Feld erziehungswissenschaftlicher Forschung. Siegen, Germany: Beltz Juventa. http://www.beltz.de/fachmedien/paedagogik/buecher/produkt_produktdetails/29563-essen_und_bildung.html

Book Chapter

'I know we can't be a family, but as close as you can get': Displaying Families within an Institutional Context

McIntosh I, Dorrer N, Punch S & Emond R (2011) 'I know we can't be a family, but as close as you can get': Displaying Families within an Institutional Context. In: Dermott E E & Seymour J (eds.) Displaying Families: A New Concept for the Sociology of Family Life. Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 175-194. http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?pid=395900

Book Chapter

Immersion dans le monde des enfants places: la demarche de reserche en ethnographie

Emond R (2009) Immersion dans le monde des enfants places: la demarche de reserche en ethnographie. In: Tillard B & Rurka A (eds.) Du Placement a la suppleance familiale: actualite des recherches internationals. Paris: Editions L'Harmattan, pp. 13-34. http://www.editions-harmattan.fr/index.asp?navig=catalogue&obj=livre&no=28176

Book Chapter

Food and Relationships: Children's Experiences in Residential Care

Punch S, McIntosh I, Emond R & Dorrer N (2009) Food and Relationships: Children's Experiences in Residential Care. In: James A, Kjørholt A & Tingstad V (eds.) Children, Food and Identity in Everyday Life. Studies in Childhood and Youth. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 149-171. http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?PID=321265

Book Chapter

Children’s Voices, Children’s Rights

Emond R (2008) Children’s Voices, Children’s Rights. In: Kendrick A (ed.) Residential Child Care: Prospects and Challenges. Research Highlights in Social Work, 47. London: Jessica Kingsley, pp. 183-195. http://www.jkp.com/catalogue/book/9781843105268

Book Chapter

Some Lessons Learned? A Case Study of Research Dissemination to young people in care

Emond R & Gilligan R (2008) Some Lessons Learned? A Case Study of Research Dissemination to young people in care. In: Chaskin R & Rosenfeld J (eds.) Research For Action: Cross-National Perspectives on Connecting Knowledge, Policy, and Practice for Children. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 111-130. http://global.oup.com/academic/product/research-for-action-9780195314083;jsessionid=00A6FF8029DED7CAD25CEF2AE1BDAC89?cc=gb〈=en&

Book Chapter

The Problem of 'Youth': An Overview of the Study of Young People

Emond R (2005) The Problem of 'Youth': An Overview of the Study of Young People. In: Beech J, Hand O, Mulhern M & Weston J (eds.) The individual and community life. Scottish life and society: a compendium of Scottish ethnology, Volume 9. John Donald in association with The European Ethnological Research Centre and The National Museums of Scotland.

Book Chapter

An outsiders view of the inside

Emond R (2005) An outsiders view of the inside. In: Crimmens D & Milligan I (eds.) Facing forward: residential care in the 21st century. Lyme Regis: Russell House.

Book Chapter

Ethnographic Research Methods with Children and Young People

Emond R (2005) Ethnographic Research Methods with Children and Young People. In: Greene S & Hogan D (eds.) Researching Children’s Experience: Approaches and Methods. London: SAGE, pp. 123-140. http://www.uk.sagepub.com/textbooks/Book216780

Article

Understanding the Resident Group

Emond R (2002) Understanding the Resident Group. Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care, 1 (1), pp. 30-40. http://www.celcis.org/resources/scottish_journal_of_residential_child_care_vol_11_aug_sep_2002

Book Review

'Childhood' in 'Crisis'?

Emond R (1998) 'Childhood' in 'Crisis'?. Review of:
ed. by Paul Scranton, London: UCL Press, 1997, 240 pp. ISBN 9781135360528. Sociology, 32 (4), pp. 888-891. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038598032004020

Book Review

Theorizing childhood

Emond R (1998) Theorizing childhood. Review of:
A James, C Jenks, A Prout, London: Polity, 1998, 256 pp. ISBN 978-0-7456-1565-3. Sociology, 32 (4), pp. 888-891. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038598032004020

Book Review

Children's homes revisited

Emond R (1998) Children's homes revisited. Review of: Children's Homes Revisited, David Berridge and Isabelle Brodie, London, Jessica Kingsley Publishers Ltd., 1998, pp. 190, ISBN 1 85302 565 8. British Journal of Social Work, 28 (4), pp. 643-645. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.bjsw.a011377