Dr Katie Ellis

BSc, MSc, PhD

Nursing and Midwifery, School of Allied Health Professions, Nursing and Midwifery

Senior Lecturer in Child Welfare

k.ellis@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 2059

Barber House Annexe

Full contact details

Dr Katie Ellis
Nursing and Midwifery, School of Allied Health Professions, Nursing and Midwifery
Barber House Annexe
3 Clarkehouse Road
Sheffield
S10 2HQ

Profile: I joined the School of Allied Health Professions, Nursing and Midwifery in June 2017 having previously worked as a researcher at the Research Exchange for the Social Sciences (RESS) and the Centre for the Study of Childhood and Youth (CSCY) at the University of Sheffield.

Research interests

I use research to advocate for children in care and young people leaving care and champion young people as the experts of their own experiences. I have conducted research with children living in Youth Offending Institutions, Secure Children’s Homes, Special Education Provisions and also with children living at home with their parents.

I am interested in conceptions of vulnerability, responsibilisation and resilience and my research considers these themes in terms of young people’s criminal pathways and sexual exploitation. While much of my past research focuses on the experiences of young people who have been ‘let down’ by a system which was supposed to be caring for them, my current research focuses on the experiences of young people who successfully transitioned from being ‘in care’ to attend university.

Current research

Pathways to University from Care

Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship 2016 - 2020

Set against the backdrop of resilience, this research shares the voices of 234 care experienced students to make 15 policy recommendations for universities, which have been endorsed by the Office for Students, UCAS, NNECL and the Care Leaver Covenant. You can access the report here and access our three minute animation here.

Young and homeless: Welfare Reforms in Practice

British Academy Small Grant (With Dr Danielle Leahy Laughlin).
This research shares the experiences of young people living in a specialist youth homeless hostel and shares recommendations for those looking to support young people with no fixed abode.

TURNING 18: Independence or cliff edge?

Crook Public Service Fellowship (supporting Alice Field from Young Futures).

'There are no good kids here: Girls’ Experiences of Secure Accommodation’

ESRC Case Studentship PhD Project

Changing Families, Changing Food: Children as Family Participants

Leverhulme Large Network Grant (With Professor Allison James and Professor Penny Curtis)

Young People’s Pathways in and out of Crime

ESRC Large Grant and Priority Network (With Professor Derek Armstrong, Professor Alan France and Jean Hine)

Publications

Journal articles

Ellis K & Johnston C (2024) Care and education: Instability, stigma and the responsibilisation of educational achievement. Children and Youth Services Review, 156, 107319-107319.
Ellis K, Hickle K & Warrington C (2023) Researching sensitive topics with children and young people: ethical practice and blurry boundaries. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 22. View this article in WRRO
Ellis K & Johnston C (2022) Resilience, higher education and widening participation: generating change for care experienced students. Higher Education.
Ellis K & Curtis P (2021) Care(ful) relationships: supporting children in secure care. Child & Family Social Work, 26(3), 329-337. View this article in WRRO
Ellis K & Leahy Laughlin D (2021) Youth homelessness in austerity Britain: “We can’t help you, you need to go back home”. Child and Youth Services. View this article in WRRO
Field A, Sen R, Johnston C & Ellis K (2021) Turning 18 in specialised residential therapeutic care: Independence or a cliff edge?. Children & Society, 35(5), 784-798. View this article in WRRO
Ellis K (2020) Blame and culpability in children's narratives of child sexual abuse. Child Abuse Review, 28(6), 405-417. View this article in WRRO
Ellis K (2018) Contested Vulnerability: A Case Study of Girls in secure care. Children and Youth Services Review, 88, 156-163. View this article in WRRO
Ellis KH (2016) ‘He's got some nasty impression of me he has’: Listening to Children in the Secure Estate. British Journal of Social Work, 46(6), 1553-1567. View this article in WRRO
Ellis K & France A (2012) Being Judged, Being Assessed: Young People's Perspective of Assessment in Youth Justice and Education. Children and Society, 26(2), 112-123.
Curtis P, James A & Ellis K (2010) Children's snacking, children's food: food moralities and family life. Children's Geographies, 8(3), 291-302.
Baker Z, Ellis K & Harrison N () Theorising educational engagement, transitions and outcomes for care‐experienced people: Introduction to the special issue. British Educational Research Journal.
Harrison N, Baker Z, Ellis K & Stevenson J () A praxis-based perspective on supporting care-experienced students to thrive in higher education using the capabilities approach. European Journal of Higher Education, 1-20.

Chapters

Brown K, Ellis K & Smith K (2020) Vulnerability as lived experience: Marginalised women and girls in the UK, Women, Vulnerabilities and Welfare Service Systems (pp. 13-25).
Fairbrother H & Ellis K (2018) Everyday Family Food Practices, Families, Intergenerationality, and Peer Group Relations (pp. 149-168). Springer Singapore
Fairbrother H & Ellis K (2016) Everyday Family Food Practices In Punch S, Vanderbeck R & Skelton T (Ed.), Families, Intergenerationality and Peer Group Relations (pp. 1-20). Singapore: Springer. View this article in WRRO
Curtis P, James A & Ellis K (2009) 'She's got a really good attitude to healthy food ... Nannan's drilled it into her': Inter-generational Relations within Families, CHANGING FAMILIES, CHANGING FOOD (pp. 77-+).
James A, Curtis P & Ellis K (2009) Negotiating Family, Negotiating Food: Children as Family Participants?, CHILDREN, FOOD AND IDENTITY IN EVERYDAY LIFE (pp. 35-51).
Forero O, Ellis K, Metcalfe A & Brown R (2009) Institutional Dining Rooms: Food Ideologies and the Making of a Person, CHANGING FAMILIES, CHANGING FOOD (pp. 226-+).
Curtis P, James A & Ellis K (2009) Fathering through Food: Children's Perceptions of Fathers' Contributions to Family Food Practices, CHILDREN, FOOD AND IDENTITY IN EVERYDAY LIFE (pp. 94-111).

Reports

Ellis K & Johnston C (2020) Pathways to University - The Journey Through Care: Findings Report Two
Ellis K & Johnston C (2019) Pathways to University from Care: Findings Report One
Ellis K & Leahy Laughlin D (2018) Youth Homelessness in Times of Austerity
Field A, Sen R, Johnston C, Ellis K & Mason W (2018) Turning 18 : Independence or Cliff Edge

Research group

I welcome doctoral applications from students interested in the following research areas:

Children’s decision-making
Issues or challenges in care
Transitions out of care
Experiences of care experienced adults
Perceptions of vulnerability
Child sexual exploitation

Grants

'Good Enough' Parenting in the Context of Leaving Care

Leverhulme Trust Grant 2024-2027

This forthcoming study will collaborate with care-experienced parents to share alternative narratives about whether and how childhood experiences influence parenting ideals.

Changing Safeguards for Children in Care: The Perspectives of Care Experienced People and Practitioners

BA Leverhulme Small Grant (With Dr Robin Sen) 2021-2023

This research explores the impact of recent legislative changes on children in state care and considers the mechanisms by which those with lived experience can inform policy and practice developments.

Teaching interests: I supervise PhDs in issues relating to children’s decision-making, child sexual exploitation or research that explores the experiences of children in care or young people leaving care.

Professional activities and memberships: Co-director of SCYPHeR (Sheffield Children and Young People's Health Research)