He joined the university in November 2008 as Professor of Social Work. Prior to that he held posts at the University of the West of England, Bristol and in his native Ireland at University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin and University College Cork.  He is a qualified social worker and completed his PhD in the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Cambridge (1987-1990), which was a historical sociological study of social work and child protection. Teaching and research interests lie in the areas of child protection, domestic violence, social interventions into fatherhood and men's lives, and the social science of social work.