Professor Gilligan made the following statement when starting on his three year term as Childwatch President:
‘I am greatly honoured to serve as President of Childwatch, and to represent Ireland and Trinity College Dublin in this capacity’. He went on to say that ‘it is vital to have well informed policy for children globally, especially when there are so many competing demands on national and international budgets. Good quality research is a key ingredient in the development of national and international child policy. Childwatch has an important role in helping to build research capacity in relation to children’s issues and interests, especially in developing countries. The Childwatch Network is a wonderful mechanism through to which to share evidence and expertise globally. I look forward to working with my colleagues in Childwatch and our partners on the challenge of bringing more resources to building research effort and capacity in developing countries’.
Professor Robbie Gilligan
Professor Robbie Gilligan is Head of the School of Social Work and Social Policy at Trinity College Dublin. He is also Associate Director (and co-founder) of the Children's Research Centre and co-ordinator (and founder) of the MSc in Child Protection and Welfare at Trinity College. He has served as a youth worker, social worker, foster carer and board member of various social service organisations. Professionally, his policy and practice focus is in the field of child and family welfare. He has a particular interest in the application of resilience and strength – based perspectives in interventions with children and families experiencing adversity. This interest in resilience also informs his research and publications.
His current research agenda has two streams (a) children and young people in public care and (b) migration and inter-ethnic relations in the lives of children and young people. His most recent book is Promoting Resilience — Supporting children and young people who are in care, adopted or in need, the second edition of which has recently been published by British Agencies for Adoption and Fostering (2009). His most recent journal article, co-authored with Muireann Ni Raghallaigh, is ’Active survival in the lives of unaccompanied minors: coping strategies, resilience, and the relevance of religion’ in Child and Family Social Work.
He is a member of the editorial boards of the journals, Child and Family Social Work (Wiley-Blackwell), Child Indicators Research – The Journal of the International Society of Child Indicators (Springer) and European Journal of Social Work (Routledge), and of the advisory boards of the journals Adoption and Fostering and Children and Society.
He has served as an elected board member of Childwatch International Research since 2002 Network, and as Vice – President in the period 2005-2009.
Director Marta Arango
Marta Arango is co-founder and Director of CINDE - the International Center for Education and Human Development, a child focused research and development center, the most prominent NGO working with and for children in Colombia. She was born in Colombia and educated there and in the United States where she received a Ms in Curriculum from the University of Wisconsin and a PhD in Education and Psycholinguistics from the University of California in Berkeley. After her graduation she worked at Far West Laboratory for Research and Development where she participated in training teachers for Head Start and Follow Through programs and at Nova University where she co-directed an Ed.D Doctoral Program in Early Childhood Education. She returned to South America in 1974 and, after 18 months in Venezuela,returned to Colombia with her husband Glen Nimnicht and founded CINDE.She has received a number of awards including the Simon Bolivar award, Columbia's highest honor for personal contribution to the country,.
Professor Roseline September
Roseline September is a Professor in the Faculty of Community Health Sciences at the University of the Western Cape, where she heads the Child and Youth Reserach and Training Programme. She has developed and sustained productive professional relationships and networks with both government and non-governmental organizations. These include national and provincial government departments, the National Programme of Action for Children's Steering Committee (NPA), international agencies and the Office on the Rights of the Child in the Presidency. She contributes extensively to legislation and policy research processes in the country. Since the birth of South Africa's democracy she served on national and provincial transformation task teams. For example, the National White Paper on Welfare and law reform processes with the SA Law Commission especially those pertaining to children, youth and families. A commitment to the values of Human Rights and Children Rights supports her work.