Plenary speakers

Donald Forrester is Professor of Child and Family Social Work at Cardiff University, where he is Director of the CASCADE Centre for Children’s Social Care Research Centre. He is also Deputy Director of the new SCALE Centre for Social Care and Artificial Intelligence Learning (established 2025), which has an exciting programme of work in this important new field. 

Professor Forrester’s primary research interests are what good practice is in children’s social care, what difference it makes to children and families, and how services can develop good practice. He is a leading expert on evaluative research, has carried out many studies evaluating complex whole system changes and has a sustained interest in directly observing practice. He is currently focused on methodological and theoretical innovations for evaluative research, with a particular focus on systems level thinking. He has advised national government and numerous local authorities on system level change within children’s social care, as well as research policy and practice implementation at local and national level.

Several of Donald’s current studies focus on the use and misuse of AI in the field of children’s social care. This includes projects exploring how workers can access and use evidence, how AI can enhance skills development and ways AI might improve assessment and judgement in the context of individual rights and relationship based working. 

Tonino Esposito, MSW, Ph.D., is a Professor at the Université de Montréal’s School of Social Work, Adjunct Professor at McGill University, and Scientific Director of the Institut universitaire Jeunes en difficulté. His research examines how place, socioeconomic vulnerability, and service system design shape child and family outcomes. He leads population-level administrative data projects that model geographic disparities in child welfare involvement, service accessibility, and workforce capacity. Tonino is also an Associate Editor of Child Abuse & Neglect, a member of several national research networks in child well-being and trauma, and works closely with government and community partners to translate evidence into equitable, prevention-oriented approaches to family support.

Karmen Toros is Professor of Social Work at Tallinn University, Estonia, and the founder of the Centre for Advanced Research on Integrity, Rights and Inclusion of the Child (CIRIC). Her research focuses on child protection, children’s participation, child welfare assessment, and decision-making processes in social work. She is particularly interested in strengths-based and solution-focused approaches in child protection practice and how children’s needs and rights are recognised in assessment and decision-making. She has led and contributed to numerous national and international research projects exploring how children’s voices are heard, understood, and acted upon in child protection systems. Her recent work includes systematic reviews and empirical studies on meaningful participation, relational and emotional dimensions of decision-making, and rights-based practice in child protection. She has published extensively on these topics, including the edited volume Professional Practice in Child Protection and the Child’s Right to Participate (2022). Professor Toros is committed to bridging research, policy, and practice to strengthen child-centred and dignity-based approaches in social work. She is also actively involved in social work education and the professional training of child protection practitioners.