Dr Martin Kettle is the Programme Lead for the MSc in Social Work and the Postgraduate Award Chief Social Work Officer. 

Martin is a qualified social worker with over thirty years’ experience in practice, management and policy, including time spent as a Professional Advisor with the Scottish Executive on child protection reform. His doctoral research was a grounded theory study of child protection social work. His teaching at GCU focuses on risk and protection issues, the law and its application to social work, social work practice and research methods. His research interests include child and adult protection, professional identity, decision-making, personalisation and Self Directed Support. 

In 2016 Martin was the Principal Investigator on a study of integrated learning in social work commissioned by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC), which can be downloaded here: http://www.sssc.uk.com/about-the-sssc/multimedia-library/publications/70-education-and-training/integrated-learning-in-social-work-a-review-of-approaches-to-integrated-learning-for-social-work-education-and-practice 

He is currently working on a longitudinal study of Newly Qualified Social Workers on behalf of the SSSC. The project website is: https://nqsw2021.wordpress.com/about/ 

His most recent publications are: 
2017 (with Sharon Jackson) Revisiting the Rule of Optimism British Journal of Social Work https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcx090 
(2018) A balancing act: a grounded theory study of the professional judgement of child protection social workers, Journal of Social Work Practice https://doi.org/10.1080/02650533.2018.1438997