Staff profile

Nikki is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and works across the department in Criminology, Sociology and Social Work. She is a registered social worker and co-ordinates placements across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. (Reg: SW130161).

Nikki completed her ESRC funded doctoral research in 2022 whereby she developed a substantive theory of primary-aged child-to-parent violence; using a classical Grounded Theory approach to integrate the perspectives of parents, practitioners, and children themselves. In this work a key focus was that non-intentional forms of harm, such as those instigated by pre-adolescent or neurodivergent children, should be understood through the lens of 'need' and referred to as explosive and harmful impulses.

Research Area

Nikki's research interests include participatory approaches to child and family experiences, expressions, and responses to harm. She is particularly interested in how symbolic representations of 'good mothering' and 'good childhoods' create contexts conducive to family harm, and how this can be challenged.

Most of Nikki's recent work explores research and practice which aims to conceptualise and frame 'child-to-parent violence', and where it may sit on the existing frameworks of child development, domestic abuse, and child safeguarding.

 

Research Groups

• Centre for Research into Violence and Abuse
• Centre for Social Justice and Community Action
• Criminal Justice, Social Harms and Inequalities

Teaching

Nikki has 16 years experience working and volunteering for various women and children's organisations and embeds this experience in her teaching. Her teaching focuses upon critical pedagogy and reflective practice, she is passionate about supporting students to apply their academic (predominantly sociological) knowledge to 'real world' settings. 

Convenor: Practice Education Stage 1- SOCI30220

Convenor: Social Work Practice 1 - SOCI42150

Convenor: Community Placement - SOCI3511

• How symbolic and structural expectations of 'good' children, childhoods, and mothering creates contexts conducive to family harm.
• Child-parent violence
• Neurodivergence
• Parent-carer well-being
• Innovative, feminist, and/or emancipatory research methodologies

Chapter in book

• Disability and child violence
  
  Rutter, N. (2025). Disability and child violence. In S. J. Macdonald & D. Peacock (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Disability, Crime, and Justice (pp. 520-531). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003348733-42

Conference Paper

• Managing violent behaviours in primary schools – A multi-agency risk assessment model
  
  Rutter, N. (2021). Managing violent behaviours in primary schools – A multi-agency risk assessment model. In S. Riddle & P. Bhatia (Eds.), Imagining Better Education: Conference Proceedings 2020 (pp. 137-150). Durham University, School of Education.

Journal Article

• Rabbits in Headlights: Professional Responses to Children’s Help-Seeking Practices When They Are Victims of Domestic abuse
  
  Jobson, C., Rutter, N., & Phillips, J. (2025). Rabbits in Headlights: Professional Responses to Children’s Help-Seeking Practices When They Are Victims of Domestic abuse. The British Journal of Criminology, azaf029. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azaf029
• The Impossibility of ‘Good Mothering’ in Child Welfare Systems When Referred for Non-Traditional Harms
  
  Rutter, N., Firmin, C., Garvey, D., O’Brien, K., & Owens, R. (2025). The Impossibility of ‘Good Mothering’ in Child Welfare Systems When Referred for Non-Traditional Harms. Social Sciences, 14(2), Article 97. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14020097
• Explosive and Harmful Impulses: A Subset of Child and Adolescent-to-Parent Violence and Abuse
  
  Rutter, N. (2024). Explosive and Harmful Impulses: A Subset of Child and Adolescent-to-Parent Violence and Abuse. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 39(23-24), 4722-4747. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605241244470
• Systematic review and meta-analysis of interventions to improve outcomes for parents or carers of children with anxiety and/or depression
  
  Tsang, A., Dahmash, D., Bjornstad, G., Rutter, N., Nisar, A., Horne, F., & Martin, F. (2024). Systematic review and meta-analysis of interventions to improve outcomes for parents or carers of children with anxiety and/or depression. BMJ Mental Health, 27(1), Article e301218. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjment-2024-301218
• ‘Yeah, embrace your anger. Fuck them.’: using feminist collaborative autoethnography and an ethics of care to (re)imagine our position as disabled women in academic spaces during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond
  
  Rutter, N., Pilson, A., & Yeo, E. (2024). ‘Yeah, embrace your anger. Fuck them.’: using feminist collaborative autoethnography and an ethics of care to (re)imagine our position as disabled women in academic spaces during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Feminist Review, 137(1), 53-70. https://doi.org/10.1177/01417789241249629
• The role of ‘friendship as method’ with child co-researchers in the primary school environment
  
  Bennion, H., & Rutter, N. (2024). The role of ‘friendship as method’ with child co-researchers in the primary school environment. Educational Action Research, 32(5), 867-883. https://doi.org/10.1080/09650792.2024.2310539
• Responding to Child and Adolescent to Parent Violence and Abuse from a Distance: Remote Delivery of Interventions during Covid-19
  
  Rutter, N., Hall, K., & Westmarland, N. (2023). Responding to Child and Adolescent to Parent Violence and Abuse from a Distance: Remote Delivery of Interventions during Covid-19. Children & Society, 37(3), 705-721. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12622
• We Need to be as a Group: Using and Evaluating the Listening Guide in Feminist Collaborative Autoethnography With an Affective ‘Fifth Listen’ as a Tool to (re)construct Identities
  
  Yeo, E., Pilson, A., Rutter, N., & Hasan, E. (2023). We Need to be as a Group: Using and Evaluating the Listening Guide in Feminist Collaborative Autoethnography With an Affective ‘Fifth Listen’ as a Tool to (re)construct Identities. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 22, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069231180166
• Rupture, repair, the loss and re-construction of identity: Seeking support in situations of adolescent-to-parent violence and abuse
  
  Rutter, N. (2023). Rupture, repair, the loss and re-construction of identity: Seeking support in situations of adolescent-to-parent violence and abuse. Frontiers in Health Services, 3. https://doi.org/10.3389/frhs.2023.1139727
• “My [Search Strategies] Keep Missing You”: A Scoping Review to Map Child-to-Parent Violence in Childhood Aggression Literature
  
  Rutter, N. (2023). “My [Search Strategies] Keep Missing You”: A Scoping Review to Map Child-to-Parent Violence in Childhood Aggression Literature. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(5), Article 4176. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20054176
• “It’s the End of the PhD as We Know it, and We Feel Fine…Because Everything Is Fucked Anyway”: Utilizing Feminist Collaborative Autoethnography to Navigate Global Crises
  
  Rutter, N., Hasan, E., Pilson, A., & Yeo, E. (2023). “It’s the End of the PhD as We Know it, and We Feel Fine…Because Everything Is Fucked Anyway”: Utilizing Feminist Collaborative Autoethnography to Navigate Global Crises. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 22. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069211019595
• Primate Sex and Its Role in Pleasure, Dominance and Communication
  
  Clarke, E., Bradshaw, K., Drissell, K., Kadam, P., Rutter, N., & Vaglio, S. (2022). Primate Sex and Its Role in Pleasure, Dominance and Communication. Animals, 12(23). https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12233301
• “I’m meant to be his comfort blanket, not a punching bag” – Ethnomimesis as an exploration of maternal child to parent violence in pre-adolescents
  
  Rutter, N. (2021). “I’m meant to be his comfort blanket, not a punching bag” – Ethnomimesis as an exploration of maternal child to parent violence in pre-adolescents. Qualitative Social Work, 20(5), 1317-1338. https://doi.org/10.1177/1473325020940774
• Pandemic ethics: Rethinking rights, responsibilities and roles in social work
  
  Banks, S., & Rutter, N. (2021). Pandemic ethics: Rethinking rights, responsibilities and roles in social work. The British Journal of Social Work, 52(6), 3460-3479. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcab253
• A letter to my co-researchers
  
  Rutter, N. (2021). A letter to my co-researchers. Entanglements: Experiments in Multimodal Ethnography, 4(2), 16-18.

Report

• An evidence-based plan for addressing the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) assessment and support crisis
  
  Alghrani, A., Ali, N., Allen, K., Bennett, H., Benger, L., Betts, J., Bradley, S., Bond, C., van den Bree, M., Brooks, R., Chawner, S., Colbert, E., Copley, C., Daniel, J., Davies, C., Eddy, L., Elshehaly, M., Groen, M., Hartley, C., … Waterman, A. (2024). An evidence-based plan for addressing the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) assessment and support crisis. Child of the North and the Centre for Young Lives. https://doi.org/10.48785/100/268
• Improving mental health and wellbeing with and through educational settings
  
  Wadman, R., Taylor, O., Qualter, P., Humphrey, N., Wood, M., Mon-Williams, M., & Rutter, N. (2024). Improving mental health and wellbeing with and through educational settings. N8. https://doi.org/10.48785/100/254
• An evidence-based plan for addressing the autism assessment and support crisis
  
  Rutter, N., Ali, N., Purna Basu, A., Basuc, S., Bond, C., Bryant, E. J., Chapman, E., Chauhan, A., Chawner, S. J., Day, P., Douse, E., Eddy, L., Elshehaly, M., Fayette, R., Gladstone, M., Gray-Burrows, K., Guldberg, K., Harris, S., Hartley, C., … Shaw, J. (2024). An evidence-based plan for addressing the autism assessment and support crisis (M. Mon-Williams, E. Shore, & M. L. Wood, Eds.). N8 Research - Child of the North.
• Not afraid, to take a stand: Project report from a desk-based review of programmes designed to improve responses to young people’s experiences of abuse
  
  Westall, A., & Rutter, N. (2023). Not afraid, to take a stand: Project report from a desk-based review of programmes designed to improve responses to young people’s experiences of abuse.
• International Delphi study of specialist practitioner and expert parents views: Child-parent violence initiated by children aged under 12
  
  Rutter, N. (2021). International Delphi study of specialist practitioner and expert parents views: Child-parent violence initiated by children aged under 12.
• Rethinking Rights, Responsibilities and Risks: Ethical Challenges for UK Social Workers during Covid-19
  
  Rutter, N., & Banks, S. (2021). Rethinking Rights, Responsibilities and Risks: Ethical Challenges for UK Social Workers during Covid-19. British Association of Social Workers.