Profile

Brief biography

Following a PhD in Demography the course of my career was influenced by my first job as a researcher at the Research Unit on Ethnic Relations where Professor Sandra Wallman, a social anthropologist, introduced me to inter-disciplinary work and to qualitative approaches. At the beginning of the 1980s I moved into local authority social services where I worked on service development and evaluation and the introduction of ICT in the London Borough of Ealing. I moved to Northamptonshire SSD as Assistant Director Planning to implement community care in 1991. I did some of my most enjoyable collaborative work there getting service users involved. I returned to higher education at the University of Northampton in 1995 before coming here to York in 2007 after 4 years at the Open University.

Research

My main research focus is inclusive and user led research working from a human rights perspective. I have had a fruitful collaboration with Central England People First. Most recently I was the research support person on their user controlled Joseph Rowntree Foundation project, Our Lives, Our Communities which was published in August 2007.

I have also developed my work collaboratively. I was the grant holder for the Grundtvig 2 Learning Partnership, ‘Empowerment and Disability: Informal learning through self-advocacy and life history’, involving the Universities of Iceland, Ghent and Trinity College Dublin and learning difficulty organisations from each country (2005-7). With Kathy Boxall and Dorothy Atkinson and a group of self-advocates with learning difficulties I gained funding and organised the ESRC Seminar Series, Service User Agents in Research: Emancipatory and Inclusive Paradigms (RES-451-25-4314) in 2006-7. I am a member of the Social History of Learning Disabilities Group at the Open University.

Publications

Recent publications

Journal articles

Michael Wyness, Lisa Harrison and Ian Buchanan (2004) ‘Childhood, Politics and Ambiguity: Towards an Agenda for Children’s Political Inclusion’ Sociology , 38(1).

Ludo Schoeters, Patrick Schelfhout, Griet Roets , Geert Van Hove, Louise Townson, Rohhss Chapman and Ian Buchanan (2005) ‘Partnership working between university researchers and self-advocacy organisations: ‘ a way forward for inclusion?’ in England and ‘ fine feathers make a fine bird’ in Flanders (Belgium)’ Journal of Intellectual Disability 9, 4.

Ian Buchanan and Jan Walmsley (2006) ‘Self-advocacy in Historical Perspective’ British Journal of Learning Disability 34, 3.

Ian Buchanan and Robert Gunn (2007) ‘The Interpretation of Human Rights in English Social Work: An Exploration in the Context of Child Care Services and Learning Difficulty Parenting’, Ethics and Social Welfare 1, 2.

Book chapters

Ian Buchanan ‘Being a Research Support Person in a User Controlled Project’ in Craig Hart, Chris Shane, Karen Spencer and Angela Still (Central England People First) Our Lives, Our Communities, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, August 2007.

Ian Buchanan ‘Policy Context: The Place of Social Enterprise in Contemporary Policy’, in Robert Gunn and Chris Durkin (eds.) Social Enterprise in the Third Sector, forthcoming 2009.

Ian Buchanan ‘Policy swings and roundabouts: social work in new social and economic contexts’, in Janet Seden (et al) (eds.) Social work: developing professionally in the 21 st Century, forthcoming 2009.

Selected reports and other publications

Ian Buchanan, Colin Barnard and Kate Legge (2000), Social Care Resources for Younger Adults with Physical Disabilities in Wales, Report for the Association of Directors of Social Services in Wales.

Ian Buchanan (2000) ‘User Participation Now: Evidence-Based Practice in Best Value’, Managing Community Care 8, 4.

Ian Buchanan with Abi Rumble (2004) ‘Dorset Advocacy Parents Advocacy Scheme: an evaluation’ Open University School of Health & Social Welfare.

Ian Buchanan and Rohhss Chapman (2004) Organising and Managing Citizen Advocacy, Open University, Faculty of Health and Social Care Research Report ( Mencap City Foundation).

Conference papers

Ian Buchanan and Liz Tilley, ‘Advocacy, Self-Advocacy and State Relations in the UK’, paper presented at the 8 th NNDR Conference ( Oslo), April 2005.

Ian Buchanan, Crain Hart and Karen Spencer (of Central England People First), ‘ A Place for User Led Research’, paper presented at the IASSID Congress in Cape Town, August 2008.

Teaching

I teach on a number of courses including Social Work Domains of Social Work Research, Theory and Knowledge for Practice and Health and Disability. I am particularly concerned with developing and maintaining a positive social work role in adult learning difficulties (intellectual disabilities).