Biography
Dr Susan Flynn is a full-time University Lecturer (Asst. Professor) in the School of Social Work and Social Policy at Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin. Prior to this, she lectured full-time in social sciences at the Institute of Technology, Sligo. Additionally, Susan has experience teaching at the National University of Ireland, Galway.
Susan's PhD examined, through through a phenomenological and biographical narrative interpretative method, the impact of the economic recession on intellectually disabled young people and their families. Within this, an affirmative non-tragedy theoretical lens situated within an overarching critical disability studies perspective, was adopted.
More broadly her work has, and continues to, focus upon child and family services. Within this, she has a particular focus on disability, child protection and welfare, and social work and social care.
Susan has over a decade of practice experience in a diverse range of applied social settings including child protection and welfare social work; intellectual disability; residential social care practice; acting managerial work; youth justice work; special education; counselling and advocacy; disability day activation work, and other roles. Susan also has experience as a social science researcher in the industry.
Twitter: @susanflynn1912 Orchid ID: https://orchid.org/0000-0002-2807-0866
Publications and Further Research Outputs
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Susan Flynn, Literature on Professional Social Work and Controversies Surrounding Roman Catholicism in the Republic of Ireland: Adapting the Dynamic Model, Journal of Religion & Spirituality in Social Work , 41, (2), 2022, p143 - 165
Susan Flynn, Critical disability studies and quarter life crisis: Theorising life stage transitional crisis for disabled emerging adults, Disability & Society , 37, (2), 2022, p183-205
Professor Vasintha Veeran, Dr Susan Flynn & Dr Leigh-Ann Sweeney, Feminist Egalitarian Discourse in Social Work Education for Practice: Theoretical Exposition from the Irish Perspective, Practice: Social Work in Action , 2022
Susan Flynn, Trajectories of social justice within social stratification: towards a Bourdieusian reading of social class for social workers, Critical and Radical Social Work , 2022
Susan Flynn, Discourse and religious doctrine: Professional social work and the moral regulation of the body in Roman Catholic Ireland, Sexualities , 25, (3), 2022, p267-283
Susan Flynn, Critical Disability Studies and the Affirmative Non-Tragedy Model: Presenting a Theoretical Frame for Disability and Child Protection , Disability and Society , 2022, phttps://doi.org/10.1080/096875
Susan Flynn, Making Acquaintance: Compatibility of Critical Disability Studies Conventions with Child Protection and Welfare Social Work Practice in Ireland. , Practice: Social Work in Action , 33, (2), 2021, p137-148
Susan Flynn, Social workers, critical theory, and the political sphere: Addressing misrecognition and marginalization in the Republic of Ireland. , Critical and Radical Social Work., 9, (3), 2021, p389-404
Sweeney, Leigh-Ann; Flynn, Susan; Finan, Sandra; Ganong, Kathryn; Gallagher, Jacqueline; Golden, Lesley; McCarthy, Cathy; Feeney, Brenda; and McMullin, Cheryl, Evidence Based Social Work: A Showcase of Research from MSW Students at the Institute of Technology, Sligo, The Irish Social Worker , Winter 2021 , 2021
Susan Flynn, Exploring internal critique: theoretically developed critical commentary on the Self-Appraisal of critical disability studies, Disability & Society , 36, (1), 2021, p1 - 18
Susan Flynn and Mellissa Corbally , Narrative and Remaking Social Futures in Times of Pandemic Crisis: The Story-Making and Story-Telling of the Heroic Nurse , The Sociological Observer , (3), 2021, p68 - 76
Susan Flynn and Tom Wengraf, Devices for illuminating defended subjectivities in complex qualitative case interpretation: An example from recent BNIM practice, Journal of Psychosocial Studies, 14, (2), 2021, p105 - 119
Susan Flynn, Strengths and Affirmations: Practitioners Views of Disability and Child Protection Through an Affirmative Lens, The Irish Social Worker , Winter 2021 , 2021
Susan Flynn, Social Work Intervention Pathways within Child Protection: Responding to the Needs of Disabled Children in Ireland, Practice: Social Work in Action , 33, (1), 2021, p51-63
Susan Flynn, Learning from the Literature on Social Work and Social Care with Children: The Utility of a Jansson Framework of Policy-Practice, Child Care in Practice , 27, (3), 2021, p281 - 294
Susan Flynn, Safeguarding Adults at Risk: Critical Commentary on the Construction of the Adult at Risk in Ireland, Irish Journal of Applied Social Studies, 21, (1, article 3), 2021, phttps://arrow.tu
Susan Flynn, Revisiting Hegemony: A Gramscian Analysis for Contemporary Social Work. , Irish Journal of Sociology , 29, (1), 2021, p77 - 96
Susan Flynn, Social Constructionism and Social Care: Literature on Evidence Informed Practice within the Professionalisation of Social Care Professionals who work with children in Ireland. , Child Care in Practice , 27, (1), 2021, p87 - 104
Susan Flynn, Convergent Identities, Compounded Risk: Intersectionality and Parenting Capacity Assessment for Disabled Children, Child and Youth Services Review , 129, (106185), 2021
Susan Flynn, Measuring parenting capacity for disabled children using a child protection assessment, Journal of Social Work , 21, (6), 2020
Susan Flynn, Corporeality and Critical Disability Studies: Toward an Informed Epistemology of Embodiment, Disability & Society , 2020
Susan Flynn, Ecosystems of Educational Disadvantage: Supporting Children and Young People receiving Child Protection and Welfare Services in Ireland, Social Work and Social Services Review , 21, (3), 2020
Susan Flynn, Proficiency within Professionalisation: A Social Constructionist Critique of Standards of Proficiency for Social Care Workers in the Republic of Ireland, Irish Journal of Applied Social Studies, 20, (2), 2020
Susan Flynn, Convergent spaces: Intersectional analysis of ethnic minority status and childhood disability in Irish safeguarding work, Child & Family Social Work , 2020
Susan Flynn, Towards Parity in Protection: Barriers to Effective Child Protection and Welfare Assessment with Disabled Children in the Republic of Ireland, Child Care in Practice , 2020
Susan Flynn, Untroubling children's identity in child protection and welfare assessment through a postconventional analytic, Journal of Social Work , 2020
Susan Flynn and Leigh-Ann Sweeney , Placing Irish Social Work in a Global Context: Assembling International Comparisons Through the Literature, Irish Journal of Applied Social Studies , 20, (1), 2020
Susan Flynn, Globalisation and Social Work Education in the Republic of Ireland: Towards Informed Transnational Social Work for Transnational Problems such as Covid-19, International Social Work , 63, (4), 2020
Susan Flynn, Protection as a Human Fundamental Need: Re-Conceiving Signs of Safety for Social Work in the Republic of Ireland, British Journal of Social Work , 2020
Susan Flynn, Life Stories of the Economic Recession: Biographical Narrative Interpretative Method (BNIM) and the Lived Experience of Disability in Times of Austerity, Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research , 21, (1), 2019, p58 - 66
Susan Flynn, Rethinking Debates in Narrative Methods: Narrative Orthodoxy and Research Challenges with Children with Intellectual Disability, Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research , 2019
Susan Flynn, Irish Intellectual Disability Services for Children and Austerity Measures: The Qualitative Impact of Recession through Framework Method, Child Care in Practice , 2019
Susan Flynn, Theorizing Disability in Child Protection: Applying Critical Disability Studies to the Elevated Risk of Abuse for Disabled Children, Disability & Society , 2019
Susan Flynn and Caroline McGregor , Recessionary Tales: An investigation into how intellectually disabled young people, and their families, experienced the economic downturn, 2018
Susan Flynn, Social work practice within an economic downturn: Understanding austerity through an anti-oppressive framework, Practice: Social Work in Action , 29, (3), 2017, p179 - 199
Susan Flynn, Perspectives on austerity: The impact of the economic recession on children with intellectual disability, Disability & Society , 32, (5), 2017, p678 - 700
Susan Flynn and Caroline McGregor, Disabled children and child protection: Learning from the literature through a non-tragedy lens, Child Care in Practice , 23, (3), 2017, p258 - 274
Susan Flynn, Engaging with materialism and material reality: Critical disability studies and economic recession, Disability & Society , 32, (2), 2017, p143 - 159
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications
Dr Cate Thomas, Dr Susan Flynn, Dr Elspeth Slayter and Dr Lisa Johnson , Disability, Intersectionality, and Child Protection: A Scoping Review, ICSPAN Congress, Estonia , 2022
Susan Flynn, Childhood Disability in the Context of Parental Alienation: Another Layer of Complexity? , Parental Alienation Awareness Newsletter , 2022
Susan Flynn, The Hidden Price of Poverty: Irish Austerity Measures and the Abuse and Neglect of Children with Disabilities by Parents and Caregivers, The International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse & Neglect , Quebec City Congress 2022, 2022
Dr Susan Flynn , Accounts of Parents subject to Child Protection Investigation for their Child or Children with Disabilities: Findings of an Exploratory Qualitative Study, ICSPAN Congress, Estonia , 2022
Susan Flynn, Review of New Directions Implementation: Lifelong Learning 1 and Lifelong Learning 2, Dublin, Ireland , 2021, 1-62
Susan Flynn, Children with Disabilities and their Families during the Covid-19 Pandemic, 2020, -
Susan Flynn, Adolescence Disrupted: Covid‐19 and Protecting Teenagers, 2020, -
Susan Flynn, Economic Recession, Austerity and Disability: Socio-Biographic Learning for Social Work from the Exceptional Case of Ireland, European Conference Social Work Research., 2019
Susan Flynn, Disability and Irish Austerity: Socio-Biographic Narratives of Intellectually Disability and Economic Recession, Nordic Network on Disability Research Conference, 2019
Susan Flynn, Social Care and Self Care: Exploring the Implications of Evidence Informed Practice (EIP) and Professionalisation for the Care of Social Care Professionals in Ireland, Social Care Ireland Conference. , 2019
Susan Flynn, A History and Sociology of Willowbrook State School., Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 64, (2), 2017, p227 - 229
Susan Flynn, Literature through an affirmative non-tragedy lens: the impact of the economic recession on children with intellectual disability, Theorising Normalcy and the Mundane Conference, 2016, 2016
Susan Flynn, Economic recession and children with intellectual disability: Applying an affirmative non-tragedy framework to the issue of austerity, Disability Studies Conference, Lancaster. , Lancaster, 2016
Susan Flynn, Children with intellectual disability, their families and the economic recession: Serious concerns and practical challenges through an affirmative non-tragedy optic., Sociological Association of Ireland Annual Conference. , 2016
Susan Flynn, Investigating how children with intellectual disabilities, and their families, experience the current economic downturn.', Lunchtime Seminar: Centre for Disability Law and Policy. , 2016
Susan Flynn, The Impact of the economic downturn on children with intellectual disability and their families. , Seminar Series: School of Political Science and Sociology, NUI Galway, 2016, 2016
Susan Flynn, Narrative Continuities: Reflexivity in Action Between Research and Practice. , IASW Research and Practice conference. , 2016, 2016
Susan Flynn, Novel Narrative Possibilities: Using a Biographical Narrative Interpretative Method (BNIM) within Intellectual Disability Research, 3rd International Irish Narrative Inquiry Conference. , 2016, 2016
Susan Flynn, Poster: Recessionary Tales: An investigation into the impact of the economic recession on young people with intellectual disability, and their families,, Youth Mental Health and Self Stigma Conference. 2015., 2015
Susan Flynn, Proposition for a PhD: The impact of austerity on intellectually disabled young people and their families. , Irish Association of Social Workers Annual Conference , 2015, 2015
Susan Flynn, The current economic recession: Social work perspectives on it's impact on people with intellectual disability, The Irish Social Worker , Spring 2015, 2015, p31 - 55
Recognition
Representations
Susan is a member of the editorial board for Disability & Society journal. She is an expert panelist and research application reviewer for the Research Council of Norway and a reviewer for the following journals: Child Care in Practice journal, Children, Irish Journal of Sociology, Critical and Radical Social Work, Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Practice-Social Work in Action, Journal of Social Work, the British Journal of Social Work, Social Work and Social Services Review, the European Journal of Social Work, Human Rights Review, Annals of Medicine, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Health & Social Care in the Community, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, and Child and Family Social Work. Susan is also a TRISS Committee Representative for her discipline and is Joint Chair of the Athena Swan Committee.
Memberships
Member of SWEPT for social work education in Ireland
Chair of Training and Education Sub-Committee of Parental Alienation Awareness Association