Members and partners

Gero Kaur

Senior Lecturer

Gero qualified as a Social Worker in 2000. Upon qualifying as a Social Worker Gero worked within a Local Authority generic adult team. She started supervising social work students on placement when she became a Senior Practitioner in 2002. In 2005 Gero gained employment as a Practice Educator within a Local Authority...

Dr Peter Simcock

Associate Professor of Social Work

Peter began working in social work education in 2010 and joined the Department of Social Work at BCU in January 2018. Prior to working in academia, Peter worked for Age Concern, Hull, before moving to the West Midlands and from 2001 to 2008 worked for Wolverhampton City Council in various social work roles including social...

Dr. Val Sylvester

Senior Lecturer/SWPET Programme Lead

Val has been working with Birmingham City University since 1995. She is currently a Senior Lecturer/Deputy Director of the BSc (Hons) Social Work programme and Programme Director for the Postgraduate Social Work Practice Educator training programme. Previous experience: Shelter National Organisation (1977-81) Val worked...

Jessica Wagner

Senior Lecturer in Social Work

After qualifying from the University of Wales in 2003, Jessica has spent the majority of her professional experience within statutory children’s services, where she held posts both as a practitioner and manager in safeguarding teams. This allowed her to gain experience of working in child protection and child in need services...

Dr Colin Watt

Senior Lecturer in Social Work

Colin is a registered Social Worker and a lecturer with extensive experience of operational and strategic management in both the statutory and voluntary sectors. He has contributed to local, regional and national networks with statutory responsibilities to implement, monitor and review government policy and legislation...