Alinka Gearon, PhD

Affiliation: University of Bath

Dr. Alinka Gearon is an Associate Professor in Social Work at the University of Bath, specializing in child trafficking and child protection social work. She holds a PhD Social Work with considerable front-line practice experience working with children, abuse, and exploitation. Her research explores children’s worlds, child protection, and children’s rights.

Research Interests:

Dr. Alinka Gearon’s research in child trafficking and modern slavery is a crosscutting social issue, relevant to policy areas of child protection, child migration, criminal justice, immigration, social policy, and human rights. Her research engages with how children and young people experience contemporary childhood and adolescence in a globalized world and how they experience child protection and trafficking policies.

Dr. Gearon’s research interests lie in qualitative and child-focused research exploring children’s worlds, child protection, and children’s rights. She conducts child trafficking participatory action research, utilizing creative and trauma-informed methods to engage and empower children and youth to be heard on matters important to them. Dr. Gearon collaborates with anti-trafficking organizations, community groups, and children and parents in designing child-centered prevention/protection programs.