Research

My research explores artificial intelligence, youth homelessness, social work, and responsible innovation. This page presents my evolving research thinking, current progress, and emerging ideas.

AI Youth Homelessness Social Work Digital Welfare Responsible Innovation

Introduction

A short overview of my PhD research, its background, and the questions that guide my work.

My PhD Research

My PhD research focuses on the relationship between artificial intelligence, youth homelessness, and social care. I am interested in how digital technologies may shape support systems for young people experiencing homelessness.

Rather than treating AI as a purely technical tool, my research considers how it interacts with lived experience, frontline practice, ethical responsibility, and wider systems of inequality.

  • How might AI be used in youth homelessness support?
  • What ethical risks and responsibilities emerge in social care contexts?
  • How can young people and practitioners be meaningfully included?
Research introduction image

How My Ideas Evolve

This section shows the conceptual map behind my research. It helps explain how my ideas, questions, literature, and practice concerns connect.

Research idea map

This map is an evolving visual representation of my research thinking. It connects AI, youth homelessness, social work, ethics, digital support, service systems, and lived experience. It is not a final framework, but a way to trace how my ideas are developing over time.

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Research poster 1
May 14 2025, Edinburgh

Developing The Research Focus

Event: SGSSS Impact Competition

Format: Poster presentation & speech

Summary: This poster explores youth homelessness as a significant social issue in Scotland. It highlights existing evidence showing that institutional support can make a meaningful difference, and considers the role that social work can play in addressing and improving this situation.

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Research poster 2
October 28 2026, Perth

Connecting with Practitioners and Building Networks

Event: Homeless Network Scotland (HNS) Conference

Format: Poster presentation

Summary: This poster explores the role of social work in youth homelessness based on current literature. It shows that social work is still relatively under-discussed in this area, that collaboration with other professions is often emphasized but rarely examined in depth, and that the topic remains weakly theorised overall.

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Research poster 3
April 15 2026, Aberdeen

Mapping the Role of Social Work in Youth Homelessness

Event: European Conference for Social Work Research

Format: Poster presentation

Summary: This poster presents findings from a scoping review that systematically mapped the different roles social workers play in youth homelessness services through a synthesis framework. While social work appears to play an important role across services, it is still not clearly identified in the literature. The review also highlights the central role of collaboration in social work practice, and suggests new possibilities for rethinking and theorising collaboration in this field.

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