Louise Grant

Research and Course Lead

Dr Louise Grant is Research Lead for the Department of Education and Training at the Tavistock and Portman and Course Lead for the Advanced practice and research: social work and social care (D55) professional doctorate.

Louise is a qualified and registered social worker and has a long career in both practice, leadership and social work, and health higher education. Prior to joining the Tavistock, she was the Executive Dean for Health and Social Sciences at at the University of Bedfordshire.

An experienced academic leader and educator, Louise has developed and led well-recognised and evaluated social work programmes. She has also spearheaded substantial change and improvement projects in health, social work, and allied professions education.

Throughout her academic career, Louise has been an active researcher and academic writer in the fields of social work organisations and supervision. She has focused on the importance of creating conditions that enable social workers and other health professionals to thrive while undertaking complex emotional work. Louise continues to be an active researcher and writer and has been commissioned by the Department for Education to improve standards in social work and associated professions.

Launching in 2026, Louise co-wrote an innovative web app designed to enhance organisational and personal resilience in health and social care with Dr Lisa Bostock, Professor Gail Kinman and Research in Practice.

Qualifications

• PhD by Published Works University of Bedfordshire 2014 – What is resilience and how can it be assessed and enhanced in social workers
• Post Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice 2009 University of Bedfordshire
• ILM Diploma in Management, 2007 Southampton (Solent) University
• MA Social Policy 2004 Open University
• Post Qualification Award in Child Care Social Work PQ1 2004 University of Bournemouth
• Practice Teaching Award (CETSW) 1992 University of Birmingham
• Certificate in Qualifying Social Work (CQSW) 1986 Coventry Lanchester Polytechnic
• BA (Hons) Applied Social Science (First) 1986 Coventry Lanchester Polytechnic

Teaching roles

• Course Lead Professional Doctorate Advanced Practice Social Work and Social Care responsible for Year 4
• Module Lead APP3 Supervision Management and Education
• PhD/Professional doctorate supervisor and examiner

Research interests

• Group-based approaches to reflective practice, including staff supervision and reflective practice groups
• Organisational resilience in health, social work and social care
• Supporting professionals in the helping professions to manage the emotional demands of the work with psycho socially informed interventions.

Current research projects

Department for Education:
• Co-leading pilot of new Research in Practice observational framework designed by Louise and Dr Lisa Bostock to support social work employers in England meet Employment Standard 5 – Supervision.

Recent research Projects

Secured a £3 million research grant to create a Research Hub with NHSE projects and :
• Led the writing of and co-produced an innovation web app called the iSort (integrated systemic organisational resilience toolkit) to support organisational and personal resilience via evidence-based workforce wellbeing strategies.

• Co-facilitated and evaluate reflective practice groups (RPGs) with senior leaders across health, social care and education to embed inter-professional reflexivity, reduce professional anxiety and promote anti-racist practice.

Expert advisory roles

Louise has held the following research ethics leadership roles:
• Chair of the Equalities Diversity and Inclusion Committee at the University of Bedfordshire 2019-2023
• Elected Governor on the Bedfordshire’s NHS Foundations Trust 2019-2023
• Tavistock Research Ethics Committee (TREC) (2023-present)

Selected publications

Book

Grant, L. & Kinman, G. (eds). (2014) The Resilient Social Worker: Developing Emotional Resilience for Practice. Palgrave Macmillan

Selected articles in peer reviewed journals

Bostock, L. and Grant, L. (2025) It’s a tough gig”: Can reflective practice groups support senior leaders in child welfare manage anxiety and provide containment for others? Special Issue: Leadership and social work, British Journal of Social Work

Grant L, Bostock L., Reid C, et al. (2025) Supporting Health and Social Care Students Stay and Stay Well: A Conceptual Framework for Implementing Integrated Care Into Higher Education. International Journal of Integrated Care, 2025; 25(1): 2, 1–10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/ijic.7772

Bostock, L., Shephard, L. and Grant, L. (2025) What knowledge and skills do early career social workers need to practice effectively with children and families? Child and Family Social Work, https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.13306

Archard, P.J., O’Reilly, M., Awhangansi, S., Grant, L., Adan, A., Majumder, P., Lewis, M., Bostock, L., & Kennedy, E. (2025). Supporting qualitative practitioner research in child and adolescent mental health. Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine, https://doi.org/10.1017/ipm.2025.10092

Kinman, G., Grant, L. (2022) Being ‘good enough’: perfectionism and wellbeing in social workers. British Journal of Social Work. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcac010

Kinman, G., Grant, L. Sharples, A. (2020) Peer coaching for wellbeing and personal effectiveness. Leadership Issues in Social Care. 2, 4, 28-35

Kinman, G., Grant, L. (2020) Emotional demands, compassion and mental health in social workers. Occupational Medicine, 70, 2, 89-94 https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqz144

Kinman, G., Grant L. (2020) Emotional demands, compassion and mental health in social workers Occupational Medicine, kqz144, https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqz144

Kinman, G., Grant L., Kelly S. (2019) ‘It’s My Secret Space’: The Benefits of Mindfulness for Social Workers. The British Journal of Social Work, bcz073, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcz073

Wilkins, D., Forrester, D., and Grant, L. (2017) What happens in child and family social work supervision?. Child & Family Social Work, 22: 942–951. doi: 10.1111/cfs.12314.

Kinman, G., Grant .L (2016) Building Resilience in Early-Career Social Workers: Evaluating a Multi-Modal Intervention The British Journal of Social Work, bcw164, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcw164

Grant L., Kinman G, Baker S. (2015) ‘Put on Your Own Oxygen Mask before Assisting Others’: Social Work Educators’ Perspectives on an ‘Emotional Curriculum’ British Journal of Social Work 45 (8):2351-2367.doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcu066

Grant, L., Kinman G and Alexander K (2014) What’s All this Talk About Emotion? Developing Emotional Intelligence in Social Work Students. Advanced access available at
DOI:10.1080/02615479.2014.891012

Grant, L,. Kinman (2014) Emotional resilience in the helping professions and how it can be enhanced. Journal of Health and Social Care Education. 3(1), 23-34. DOI: 10.11120/hsce.2014.00040

Selected Policy Documents

Grant, L., Bostock L, Shepard L, Friel, S and Kinman G (2025)

Child and family social worker knowledge and skills Rapid evidence review Department of Education.

Selected book chapters

Kinman, G., Grant, L., (2023,). Building resilience in the social care sector: a systemic approach. In Resilience in Modern Day Organizations Edited by C. Cooper, A. Alexander-Stamatios and R. Ventouratos-Fotinatos. Routledge

Kinman, G., Grant. L. (2015). Empathy in the helping professions. Chapter 7 In The Neurobiology and Psychology of Empathy .Nova Science Publishers New York. USA.

Other significant outputs

Department for Education Resources to help social work leaders meet employer standards and support their workforce. (2025) Lead Author for Research in Practice

Grant L, Kinman G, Alexander K. (2020) The Social Work Organisational Resilience Diagnostic. Research in Practice.