In this episode, Communications and Engagement Advisor Katya Allcott-Amjad sits down with three members of CYCJ's Practice Development team, Carole Murphy, Pamela Morrison and Joanne Lee to discuss the workforce development opportunities provided by CYCJ.

Carole Murphy, Practice Development Advisor at CYCJ where her role is largely focused on workforce development. She is the Course Lead for CYCJ's Postgraduate Certificate on Children and Young People in Conflict with the Law and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Carole has an interest in data and measuring outcomes for children and young people and is a member of the Youth Justice Improvement Board's Data subgroup.

Pamela Morrison is Practice Development Advisor at CYCJ, where she supports the delivery of Scotland's Restorative Justice Action Plan, with a focus on ensuring the rights and needs of children and young people are upheld. She also leads CYCJ's work on children in police custody, working with partners across Scotland to reduce and prevent the use of police custody for children.

Joanne Lee, who is a Practice Development Advisor and takes a lead on Learning and Development. Joanne's role focuses on developing CYCJ's strategy for learning and development of our key stakeholders including supporting practitioners with key legislative and policy developments in youth justice practice, whilst contributing to the wider work of the centre's core training objectives. Joanne has completed the Post Graduate Certificate which we will be discussing throughout the course of this episode.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Post graduate certificate in children and young people in conflict with the law - applications open now!

CYCJ's eLearning modules

Developmental Wellbeing Approach

In this episode, Communications and Engagement Advisor, Katya Allcott-Amjad was joined by Craig Houston, CYCJ Research Intern and Dr Kayleigh Charlton, CYCJ Research Associate to discuss the Craig's research into antisocial behaviour and school exclusion.

Craig Houston is a PhD candidate at the University of Glasgow, where he is currently exploring the meaning of, and how, places impact feelings of social connectivity for care-experienced children and young people in Scotland. He joined CYCJ in January 2026 for a 3-month internship, organised through the Scottish Graduate School of Social Sciences.

Dr Kayleigh Charlton is a Research Associate at CYCJ. She joined CYCJ on the Nuffield-funded project 'Challenging Justice Inequalities: Co-producing Change with Children in Conflict with the Law'. The project will run from 2024-2026 and aims to explore how intersecting inequalities affect children's experiences of (in)justice. Kayleigh completed her PhD at the University of Bath titled 'The Imaginary Queer Prison: The Possibilities and Limitations of Queering the Prison'. This was an interdisciplinary thesis that explored conceptualisations of queer spaces, uses and meanings of 'queer', LGBTQ+ pains of imprisonment and the use of speculative fiction to (re)imagine responses to the social and economic inequalities faced by LGBTQ+ communities.

To read a blog from Craig where he reflects on the experiences of his internship, click here.

In this episode, Communications and Engagement Advisor, Katya Allcott-Amjad was joined by Professor Carlene Firmin and CYCJ Director Professor Fiona Dyer.

On the day we recorded this episode, our guest Professor Carlene Firmin gave the 23rd Kilbrandon lecture, which CYCJ plays a key role in organising, along with our colleagues at CELCIS and the department of Social Work and Social Policy here at the University of Strathclyde.

Professor Firmin is Professor of Social Work and Director of the Global Centre for Contextual Safeguarding at Durham University. She is also Co-Editor in Chief of the British Journal of Social Work, co-convener of a special interest group on Social Work and Adolescents for the European Social Work Research Association, a Global Ashoka Fellow, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a member of the Churchill Fellowship Advisory Council. Carlene is also a member of CYCJ's Associates scheme.

Professor Fiona Dyer is Director at the Children and Young People's Centre for Justice. As Director, Fiona leads CYCJ towards its ambition of ensuring that Scotland's approach to children and young people in conflict with the law is rights-respecting, contributing to better outcomes for children, young people and communities.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Kilbrandon Lectures - https://www.strath.ac.uk/humanities/socialworksocialpolicy/thekilbrandonlectures/

Global Centre for Contextual Safeguarding - https://www.contextualsafeguarding.org.uk/

Criminal Exploitation of Children Framework for Practice - https://www.cycj.org.uk/resource/criminal-exploitation-of-children-cec-framework-for-practice/