Professor Lena Dominelli

Professor of Social Work

Social Work Stirling

Professor Lena Dominelli

Contact details

About me

Professor Lena Dominelli, PhD, AcSS, is a qualified social worker and holds a Chair in Social Work at the University of Stirling. She was previously Co-Director at the Institute of Hazards, Risk and Resilience (2010-2016) at Durham University. Lena has specific interests in projects on climate change and extreme weather events including drought, floods, cold snaps; wild fires; earthquakes, volcanic eruptions; disaster interventions; ‘vulnerability’ and resilience; health pandemics; community engagement; coproduction and participatory action research. She has created green social work as a new paradigm for theory and practice. Her research on disasters includes funding from the ESRC, EPSRC, NERC, SSHRC, the Department of International Development and Wellcome Trust. Lena is a prolific writer and has published widely in social work, social policy and sociology including topics covering children and families, child abuse and domestic violence, masculinity, and older adults. She is Director of the MSc in Disaster Interventions and Humanitarian Aid starting soon at Stirling. Lena currently chairs the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) Committee on Disaster Interventions, Climate Change and Sustainability and the Special Interest Group on Disaster Interventions for the British Association of Social Workers (BASW). She has been supporting social workers and providing guidelines on Covid-19 since early January 2020 beginning in China. Lena has represented the social work profession at the United Nations discussions on climate change (UNFCCC), since Cancun, Mexico in 2010 and was President of IASSW from 1996-2004. Her work has been recognised globally through various honours bestowed upon her.

My current research interests include: Covid-19. Disaster Interventions including health pandemics, climate change, extreme weather events, flooding, droughts, earthquakes. Ukrainian experiences of displacement. Working with children and families, including child abuse and neglect. Working with older people, particularly around developing resilience in old age. Masculinity in disasters, including substance misuse and intimate partner violence. Globalisation, neoliberalism and social policy. Feminist Social Work. Anti-Racist Social Work.

Research projects (1)

Developing The UNICEF Child Climate Risk Index (CCRI)
PI: Professor Lena Dominelli
Funded by: UNICEF
–

Outputs (35)

Research Report

The Coldest Year of the Rest of their Lives: Protecting Children from the Escalating Impacts of Heatwaves

Barkhof M, Lee S, Slaymaker T, Ballasina M, Henley S, Hornby D, Marcinko C, Mollard J, Sargent K, Watmough G, Connon I, Dominelli L, Hutton C, Rees N & Hutchinson A (2022) The Coldest Year of the Rest of their Lives: Protecting Children from the Escalating Impacts of Heatwaves. UNICEF. New York. https://www.unicef.org/media/129506/file/UNICEF-coldest-year-heatwaves-and-children-EN.pdf

Conference Paper (unpublished)

Enhancing Climate Justice for Children: The Children’s Climate Change Risk Index (CCRI)

Connon I, Dominelli L, Hutton C, Henley S, Watmough G, Bollasina M, Mollard J, Sargent K, Marcinko C, Macdonald F, Rees N, Fassio A & Hutchison A (2022) Enhancing Climate Justice for Children: The Children’s Climate Change Risk Index (CCRI). Scottish Alliance for Geoscience, Environment and Society (SAGES) Annual Science Meeting, Dundee, Scotland, UK, 03.05.2022-05.05.2022.

Website Content

Putin’s War in Ukraine: A challenge for social workers and others

Dominelli L (2022) Putin’s War in Ukraine: A challenge for social workers and others. University of Stirling Public Policy Blog [Blog post] 19.04.2022. https://policyblog.stir.ac.uk/2022/04/19/putins-war-in-ukraine-a-challenge-for-social-workers-and-others/

Research Report

UNICEF Children's Climate Change Risk Index (CCRI): Systematic Review of the Literature: Findings, Outcomes and Policy Recommendations

Connon I & Dominelli L (2022) UNICEF Children's Climate Change Risk Index (CCRI): Systematic Review of the Literature: Findings, Outcomes and Policy Recommendations. Fassio A (Project Member), Rees N (Project Member), Barkhof M (Project Member), Burdziej J (Project Member), Narasimhan G (Project Member), Wicks T (Project Member), Hutchison A (Project Member), Macdonald F (Project Member), Hutton C (Project Member), Marcinko C (Project Member), Branson J (Project Member), Harfoot A (Project Member), Hill C (Project Member), Hornby D (Project Member), Bollasina M (Project Member), Henley S (Project Member), Watmough G (Project Member), Mollard J (Project Member), Sargent K (Project Member), Inall M (Project Member), Wilkinson T (Project Member) & Crispell J (Project Member) Data for Children Collaborative with UNICEF. Edinburgh, Scotland. https://www.dataforchildrencollaborative.com/actionable-insights/ccri-lit-review

Website Content

Saying Goodbye to COP26

Dominelli L (2021) Saying Goodbye to COP26. University of Stirling Public Policy Blog [Blog post] 19.11.2021. https://policyblog.stir.ac.uk/2021/11/19/saying-goodbye-to-cop26/

Website Content

COP26: An Opportunity Not to Be Missed

Dominelli L (2021) COP26: An Opportunity Not to Be Missed. University of Stirling Public Policy Blog [Blog post] 01.11.2021. https://policyblog.stir.ac.uk/

Conference Paper (unpublished)

Justice for Whom? Children and Climate Change Risk

Connon I, Dominelli L, Henley S & Hutton C (2021) Justice for Whom? Children and Climate Change Risk. Rees N (Project Member), Macdonald F (Project Member), Bollasina M (Project Member), Fassio A (Project Member), Hutchison A (Project Member), Marcinko C (Project Member), Mollard J (Project Member), Sargent K (Project Member) & Watmough G (Project Member) 2nd World Forum on Climate Justice, Glasgow, 21.09.2021-23.09.2021.

Article

Carers' perceptions of harm and the protective measures taken to safeguard children's health against inhalation of volcanic ash: A comparative study across Indonesia, Japan and Mexico

Covey J, Dominelli L, Horwell CJ, Rachmawati L, Martin-del Pozzo AL, Armienta MA, Nugroho F & Ogawa R (2021) Carers' perceptions of harm and the protective measures taken to safeguard children's health against inhalation of volcanic ash: A comparative study across Indonesia, Japan and Mexico. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 59, Art. No.: 102194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2021.102194

Research Report

Social Work and Disasters Systematic Literature

Cleary J & Dominelli L (2020) Social Work and Disasters Systematic Literature. British Association of Social Work. https://basw.co.uk/policy-and-practice/resources/social-work-and-disasters-systematic-literature-review

Article

Facemask use for community protection from air pollution disasters: An ethical overview and framework to guide agency decision making

McDonald F, Horwell CJ, Wecker R, Dominelli L, Loh M, Kamanyire R & Ugarte C (2020) Facemask use for community protection from air pollution disasters: An ethical overview and framework to guide agency decision making. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 43, Art. No.: 101376. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2019.101376

Book Chapter

Reconceptualising poverty in Europe: Exclusion, marginality and absolute poverty reframed through participatory relational space

Dominelli L (2019) Reconceptualising poverty in Europe: Exclusion, marginality and absolute poverty reframed through participatory relational space. In: Gaisbauer HP, Schweiger G & Sedmak C (eds.) Absolute poverty in Europe: interdisciplinary perspectives on a hidden phenomenon. Bristol: Policy Press, pp. 17-38. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvf3w3zg.6

Article

Factors motivating the use of respiratory protection against volcanic ashfall: A comparative analysis of communities in Japan, Indonesia and Mexico

Covey J, Horwell C, Rachmawati L, Ogawa R, Martin-del Pozzo AL, Armienta MA, Nugroho F & Dominelli L (2019) Factors motivating the use of respiratory protection against volcanic ashfall: A comparative analysis of communities in Japan, Indonesia and Mexico. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 35, Art. No.: 101066. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2019.101066

Authored Book

Anti-Racist Social Work

Dominelli L (2018) Anti-Racist Social Work. Fourth ed. Practical Social Work. Macmillan Education UK. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53420-0

Book Chapter

Green Social Work and the Uptake by the Nepal School of Social Work: Building Resilience in Disaster-Stricken Communities

Dominelli L (2018) Green Social Work and the Uptake by the Nepal School of Social Work: Building Resilience in Disaster-Stricken Communities. In: Bracken L, Ruszczyk HA & Robinson T (eds.) Evolving Narratives of Hazard and Risk: The Gorkha Earthquake, Nepal, 2015. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 141-158. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65211-5_9

Authored Book

Social Work in a Globalizing World

Dominelli L (2010) Social Work in a Globalizing World. First ed. Cambridge UK: Polity Books. https://politybooks.com/bookdetail/?isbn=9780745640884

Authored Book

Introducing Social Work

Dominelli L (2009) Introducing Social Work. Short Introduction Series. Cambridge, UK: Polity Books. https://politybooks.com/bookdetail/?isbn=9780745640860

Teaching

I am currently developing an MSc in Disaster Interventions and Humanitarian Aid (MSc Disaster Action) which is intended to be launched in October 2020. I have taught across a range of traditional social work topics, including social work theory, models for practice, ethical behaviour, globalisation. More recently, I have been focusing on international social work, particularly disaster interventions locally, nationally and internationally. I also supervise students, and support them in empirical research projects. I enjoy teaching and learning from students. My major aim is to enable students to reach their full potential.

Research programmes

Research centres/groups

Research themes