Nora Duckett is a Senior Lecturer in Social Work at Anglia Ruskin University in Chelmsford, Essex and a registered social worker. She began her academic career in 2003 and in 2008 co-authored with Liz Davies, Proactive Child Protection and Social Work. Between 2008 and 2011 she contributed to a 3-year youth homelessness research project, commissioned by the EU, and she is currently undertaking doctorate level study looking at improving understandings of professional dangerousness in child protection social work education and practice. Prior to her academic role, in the mid-1980s, Nora worked in an inner London borough as an unqualified family aide, which led her to complete an access course and obtain a degree and a social work qualification.  As well as spending several years working as a social worker in the community and in a hospital setting, she helped pioneer a young women’s sexual exploitation service in central London and managed a young runways strategy project, raising awareness of the risks of running away, and coordinating services across London. The experience of social work with children, young people and families is at the heart of her work as an academic.