ProfDebra Allnock

Debra Allnock is Professor of Applied Social Research, Director of the Safer Young Lives Research Centre, and Deputy Director of the Institute of Applied Social Research, where she leads work focused on improving safeguarding systems and responses to children and young people affected by abuse.

Debra is an applied researcher with over 20 years’ experience in child protection, safeguarding and vulnerability. Her research focuses on child sexual abuse, exploitation and neglect, with particular attention to how children, young people and adult victim-survivors experience harm, disclosure and professional responses. A consistent thread across her work is a commitment to ensuring that children’s voices are meaningfully heard, particularly in contexts where they are often overlooked, using participatory and creative approaches to inform policy and practice.

She has a strong record of shaping national policy and professional practice, particularly in relation to policing and multi-agency safeguarding. Through her senior leadership role within the Vulnerability Knowledge and Practice Programme, she has led major programmes of research to improve responses to child and adult vulnerability, contributing directly to developments within the College of Policing and the emerging National Centre for Public Protection and Violence Against Women and Girls.

Her research has secured significant external funding and produced influential outputs spanning peer-reviewed publications, national evidence reviews and widely used practice guidance across social care, policing and the third sector. She has focussed on bridging the gap between research, policy and frontline practice, ensuring that evidence translates into tangible improvements in safeguarding systems.

Alongside her research leadership, Debra plays a key role in strengthening research governance and ethical practice across the field. She is Chair of the Institute for Applied Social Research Ethics Panel at the University of Bedfordshire and acts as an expert advisor on a number of academic and policing ethics panels and committees. Through these roles, she supports the development of rigorous, ethically grounded research in complex and sensitive areas.

Debra also contributes actively to the wider academic community, regularly peer reviewing journal articles and research funding applications. She has served as Associate Editor of the Journal of Children’s Services and is involved in national and international advisory groups, as well as delivering training and professional development for frontline practitioners and senior leaders across safeguarding and public protection.

Across all aspects of her work, Debra is driven by a commitment to social justice, strengthening how systems engage with, respond to and act upon the experiences of children and young people affected by abuse.