Our staff

Mihaela came to work in Scotland via her homeland of Romania, and Vienna, and she brings a decade's experience working on policy and research projects with Save the Children and the Agency for Fundamental Rights. At CELCIS she will support the Neglect Programme by developing effective data and empirical evidence systems to measure progress. She's been blown away by the friendliness of Glaswegians, and cant wait to explore more of Scotland, but she won't be inviting new friends for dinner - she literally can't boil an egg.

 

Based in the Improving Protection and Permanence Team, Lisa provides the all-important admin support required to keep CELCIS's Protecting Children Team ticking over smoothly. Lisa is also the Secretariat Support for Child Protection Committees Scotland. Despite her youth, Lisa's a Strathclyde University veteran, going all the way from apprenticeship to ILM leadership training and likes to say that she's a leader-in-waiting. As a plate-spinning working mum, free time is scarce, but Lisa likes to let her hair down whenever opportunity arises.

 

 

Carolann has a truly analytical mind. She uses her logical, numerical skills to produce easily accessible data and visuals as baseline to improve systems supporting vulnerable children. Every point on one of her graphs represents a real child, on his or her journey towards a permanent home. Carolann applies her analytical mind and sense of order to everything, including the kitchen sink. Every item on her desk and in her wardrobe is lined up in perfect order, and she simply doesn't do crossed lines on her data charts.

 

Robert is a psychology turned legal researcher. He provides evaluation and research to the Permanence and Care Team, as well as working on other social research projects for CELCIS. Due to defend his PhD in law soon, Robert enjoys doing applied research in environments with a real-world impact. Outside of work, Robert runs the Bantuan Coffee Foundation.

 

As a social worker, family support manager and team leader, Linda is passionate about the practical application of child development and early year's research in supporting our understanding and decision making for children. Linda loves gardening, growing her own food and making preserves to share with family and friends.

 

Social anthropologist Brandi Lee is a research associate in our Evidence and Innovation Hub. With a background in the youth work sector, she is passionate about working alongside public bodies to use research evidence to inform and improve policy and practice. Her work is driven by children and young people's rights, their experiences of services, and sense of identity and belonging. When not working you'll find her outdoors with her wife and child, either walking in the woods or growing food in their garden.

 

 

 

With a background in local economic development consultancy, Alex plays a critical role gathering and analysing evidence for the Child Protection Improvement Programme and Addressing Neglect and Enhancing Wellbeing programme. He's the person devising and implementing user-friendly recording systems to illustrate the scale of neglect and child protection and the effectiveness of approaches to tackle these issues. Alex is an advocate for active living - cycling, running, swimming, football - and his passion for sport stimulated his PhD on community stadia.

 

Michael Bettencourt has over 15 years’ experience working with Virtual School Heads and care experienced education services. He is leading on the support and development of Virtual Schools and Care Experienced Teams in Scotland. Michael was previously Research Lead and a Trustee of NAVSH (National Association of Virtual School Heads). He also led on PALAC a knowledge exchange programme at the Institute of Education, UCL. PALAC supported schools and local authorities to implement evidence based interventions in their settings.

 

Sandy is our bookkeeper in chief, she manages the money and is responsible for all things financial for us. She is in charge of our day-to-day transactions and ensures these are dealt with promptly, and in line with our Scottish Government funding objectives. She also manages income generated from our services and keeps a close eye on our expenditure column.

 

Halima has recently taken up the post of Contracts and Compliance Advisor. By way of background, Halima is a qualified solicitor, with a background in litigation. After qualifying from her traineeship, Halima went on to work in private practice before moving In House. Most recently Halima was working as a Lawyer at the Scottish Government before joining CELCIS. Halima is the ‘Go to’ for all things Data Protection/GDPR and Contracts. Outside of work Halima is a keen sewist, designing and sewing a range of clothes and accessories.

 

 

Sarah is a former Academic Skills Lecturer and Academic Advisor who discovered a passion for online education. She oversees and promotes our online learning options on offer, options which include our unique distance learning 'MSc in Child and Youth Care Studies', our 'Caring for Vulnerable Children' MOOC, and our many learning opportunities for the sector. Sarah moved to Scotland from Australia in 2014 and loves the cool weather and beautiful scenery.

 

George provides admin support for the Improving Care Experiences hub at CELCIS and brings several years of experience in similar roles with the Scottish Government, Perth and Kinross Council and Community Safety Glasgow. He has previously worked in video production and is currently studying a Masters in Film Curation. In his spare time he enjoys reading books, going to the cinema and listening to music.

 

Emma uses the analytical skills she developed as a criminology student in the wide range of large exploratory research projects, and specific service and programme evaluations CELCIS is involved in. She enjoys working alongside all kinds of professionals to evidence and showcase good practice for looked after children and young people. She loves to travel and escapes to foreign lands as much as she can.

 

Throughout Steven's career he has worked in organisations that support children and young people to improve their experiences and life opportunities. At CELCIS, he leads business development, financial planning and HR to ensure effective and efficient delivery of all of our services. As a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, and former graphic designer, Steven combines practical and creative approaches to problem solving. Steven also delivers inputs as a guest speaker on Leading Change, including partnerships with HR, at other UK Universities.

 

Lynsey is admin for Professional Development Services and works to assist with international projects and provide support for the many learning and development opportunities available at CELCIS. She brings her experience from her various administration roles in the education sector which has developed an appreciation of lifelong learning. Away from work, Lynsey is happiest when spending time with her family and friends.

 

After completing a PhD in Statistics, Joanna spent several years working with children and young people in a community outreach setting. She is now marrying these two interests through her role as a Data Analyst at CELCIS, where she is primarily focused on researching outcomes for children and young people growing up in kinship care. Outside of work, Joanna is happiest when riding her bike, climbing a hill or splashing in puddles with her little ones.