Dr Bridget Ng'andu

Dr Bridget Ng’andu joined the University of Kent in September 2017, after teaching on the BA (Hons) Social Work programme at Ruskin College in Oxford. 

Dr Ng’andu qualified as a social worker in 1995, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work (BSW) from the University of Botswana. Her dissertation explored the role of International Volunteer groups in Botswana and their contribution to community development. Her interest in working with Children and Families started there, whilst working in a Primary School with children and families affected by HIV/AIDS. 

In 2000, Dr Ng’andu completed a Master’s Degree in Social Work (MSW) at the Curtin University of Technology in Australia, exploring Volunteering and HIV/AIDS in Western Australia. In 2006, she completed a PhD dissertation, focusing on Social Policy and HIV/AIDS in Botswana, also from Curtin University of Technology. 

Prior to teaching, Dr Ng’andu worked as a frontline Social Worker and Senior Practitioner in English Local Authorities with Children and Families, in particular child protection work. 

Dr Ng’andu is registered with the Health Care and Professions Council (HCPC). She is also a volunteer with Social Workers Without Borders (SWWB) and is on their Steering Committee.  

Working with children and families, specifically issues around child sexual exploitation and race, safeguarding and unaccompanied asylum seekers, social work activism, alternative ways of social work practice, social work diversity and international social work practice.

Dr Ng’andu teaches on social work programmes. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA). She teaches in an interactive manner, using case studies, videos, newspaper articles and working with Service Users. She is very approachable and enjoys meeting new people.

• Children Displaced across Borders Conference, Swansea University, November 2016
  Co-presentation with Bec Buss on Social Workers Without Borders and Direct Work with Unaccompanied Children in the Calais Camp.
• Uncertain Journeys, Conference on Unaccompanied Asylum Seekers, Goldsmith University, September 2016
  Co-presentation with Lauren Wroe on Social Workers Without Borders and volunteering work in Calais.
• European Conference for Social Work Research – Lisbon, Portugal, March/April 2016
  Co-presentation of paper on CSE and international perspectives with Kish Bhatti-Sinclair at the Catholic University of Portugal.
• JSWEC Conference 2015
  Co-presented a paper on ‘Critical Multi-culturalism and Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE)’, with Kish Bhatti-Sinclair, University of Chichester, Andrew Linton, Brunel University, London, and Sukhwinder Singh, Northampton University.
• SWAN Conference on Mental Health 2014, Ruskin College, Oxford, England
  Workshop on exploring anti-racist social work and mental health.