DrJoseph Mooney

Joe is Assistant Professor of Social Work at University College Dublin and has a specific focus on child welfare and protection social work. He is a professionally qualified and CORU registered Social Worker with previous professional backgrounds in both child protection (holding an MA in Social Work from University of Galway) and law (holding an LLB in Irish Law from Griffith College Dublin). Joe was awarded his PhD at the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre under the supervision of Professor Caroline McGregor (Skehill) and externally examined by Professor Ramona Alaggia of the University of Toronto. He aslo holds a PG Dip in Teaching and Learning. 

Joe maintains a strong research and publication track record in the areas of child protection and disclosure of sexual abuse and trauma. His research agenda over the past decade involves adults who have experienced childhood sexual abuse, disclosure, and child protection practice, policy, and law.

Joe adopts a value-led approach to his research and teaching, working from a strong belief in social justice, and heavily influenced by an ethic of care, empowerment of humanity, and taking a socio-ecological and life course perspective on issues impacting society. He is committed to value-led research excellence and impact within a specific research signature and conducts research at NGO, State body, Departmental, and international consortium levels. 

His research interests include disclosure of childhood trauma; child sexual abuse; child welfare and protection systems, practice, policy and law. 

Joe is the current Director of Teaching and Learning for the School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice. He sits on the exectuive board of the journal, Child Care in Practice, and is a former Co-Chair of the UCD Humanities Research Ethics Committee and former Board Member of One in Four. 

Joe's current work focuses on the production of a monograph which presents the thesis of examining disclosure through a social model. He also currently supervises PhD candidates in the areas of adult dislcosures and sytemic child protection responses, humaniatrian responses to child abuse and exploitation, and school-based social work responses to bullying.