Ms Helen Carr

I am currently seconded to the Education and Student Success Team. My substantive post is as a Principal Lecturer within the Social Work Team. My background is in social care, from working in children's homes and within the refugee sector. Migration, social justice and allyship are continual threads throughout my work and teaching, which is often interprofessional in focus.

Previously, I have worked closely with our NHS Trusts in delivering practice education across health and social care, developing placement capacity, quality and managing our raising concerns process for placements. Also, I was Project Lead for an HEE-funded Schwartz Rounds project at CCCU and I am a trained Facilitator for Schwartz Rounds.

In 2021, I co-founded our Bridging the Gap to Leadership project, a collaboration between CCCU and the University of Brighton. In line with both CCCU’s Closing our Gap strategy and wider NHS concerns, this project addresses racial inequalities in practice education. Through this project, we have supported over 50 students across both universities in leadership placements. In addition to supporting students to present their work to practice educators, we have highlighted the project’s impact nationally at conferences and networking events, leading to winning the national University Alliance Award (June 22) for the project’s creativity and impact. We also won CCCU’s Teaching Excellence Team Award (June 22) and were shortlisted for the HE Innovate Award (Nov 22). I am continually inspired by the transformative opportunities that this project generates, which drives my continuing focus on developing leadership opportunities for students, working with students as partners in learning. From this work I developed a project called Mattering in Practice.

• Lecturer to Principal Lecturer at CCCU, 2006 - present
• Enterprise Fellowship Programme Graduate 24/25 (Year 1)
• Lecturer in Social Care, University of Kent, 2003-2006
• PGCHE and HEA Senior Fellowship

Currently, I am facilitating our UCAP and PGCAP courses. I have taught across the Social Work curriculum and as module lead for MSc Migration & Mental Health. I have run training workshops for practice educators and academic staff for supporting students in practice placements, including managing complaints and concerns, developing speaking up and safer spaces. I have extensive experience of designing, delivering and leading learning activities from Foundation to Masters’ levels of study. With a background in Social Care, I enjoy the wealth of opportunities for interprofessional education at CCCU.

In June 2023, I co-produced a conference at CCCU with the University of Brighton: ‘Bridging the Gap to Leadership: Tackling Racial Inequalities in Practice Education’

Academic presentations include:

• University of East London's L&T Symposium (2026): 'Race equity in practice education'
• Equity in Education and Society Conference (2025): 'Mattering in practice education'
• International Research Network Conference, Sustainability, Community and Impact (2024): 'Making connections for mental health'
• Advance HE Learning & Teaching Conference (July 2023): 'Implementing Schwartz Rounds'
• Advance HE Learning & Teaching Conference (July 2023): ‘Shaping the future of inclusive education: collaboration, co-production and leadership, our tools for achieving equity in practice placements’
• HEE Advancing Anti-Racism in Undergraduate AHP Training Educational Symposium (June 2022): ‘Bridging the Gap to Leadership
• A collaborative interprofessional placement to enhance BAME students’ practice placement experiences’
• Building Bridges Conference, Crete (July 2017): ‘An evaluation of The Sleep Project for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in Kent’, Keynote Speaker
• The National Association of Educators in Practice (NAEP) Conference (April 2017): ‘The development of interprofessional practice support’
• BASW Conference (July 2016): ‘Applying theories of loss, grief and bereavement to forced migrants: confounding grief’
• SWAN Conference (Apr 2015): ‘Migration and voluntary return’
• RCN Conference (Mar 2015): ‘Partners in practice: Educating for health and social care integration’

My PhD is in progress: 'Experiential and relational leadership education: Educators' perspectives'.

I was Project Lead of a 2-year realist evaluation project developing a sustainable model of support for our health and social care students and new registrants as they transition into practice, funded by NHSE (2022-24). I have been a co-investigator of two research surveys: ‘Understanding the experiences of Black, Asian, Mixed Heritage and Other Minoritised Ethnic students within health and social care practice learning environments’; and ‘Understanding the experiences of practice educators in supporting ethnically diverse students within the practice learning environment’ (both HEE-funded).

I received an Early Researcher Grant (2016) and co-published ‘Evaluation of the Sleep Project for Unaccompanied Asylum-seeking Children in Kent’, in collaboration with Sussex NHS Partnership Trust.

My MSc dissertation was a systemic review on the experiences of asylum seekers and refugees returning to their country of origin: Carr, H. (2014) Returning ‘Home’: Experiences of Reintegration for Asylum Seekers and Refugees, British Journal of Social Work, ‘World on the Move’ Special Edition – Vol. 44, i140-i156.

Successful Funding Bids:

• Bridging the Gap to Leadership: Enhancing the Experiences of Black, Asian, Mixed Heritage and Other Minoritised Ethnic Students, Funder: Health Education England, 2022 (£21,000)
• Bridging the Gap to Leadership: Enhancing the Experiences of Black, Asian, Mixed Heritage and Other Minoritised Ethnic Students, Funder: Health Education England, 2021 (£11,000)
• Research ProjectsEvaluation of the sleep project for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in Kent. Researcher(s): Ms Helen Carr, Professor Eleni Hatzidimitriadou, Dr Precious Sango. [Project report]

I am the Chair of Trustees of a charity, Abbey Physic Community Garden, which has the aims of reducing loneliness, supporting people to maintain/improve their mental health and to build social connections. This role includes keeping an oversight of the charity’s governance, seeking financial grants and stabilising the income for the garden, and proudly, on behalf of all our members, the garden received the King’s Award for Voluntary Service 2024.