Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma - Introducing our New Editor-in-Chief!

Dominic McSherry is Reader in Psychology in the School of  Psychology and Institute of Mental Health Sciences, Ulster University, Northern Ireland.  For the last two decades he has been leading research examining developmental outcomes for children who experience early adversity and trauma in their lives, primarily resulting from maltreatment, in the form of either acts of omission, commission or both by birth parents, and are subsequently removed to care and in some instances adopted from care.  He has led several large scale studies in this area, more recently the 'Mind Your Health' study (McSherry et al, 2015; 2018) which developed the first physical and mental health profile for children and adolescents in care in Northern Ireland.  

Since 2003, he has been leading the only study in the world that has followed a full population of young children from entry to care (aged under five) through to early adulthood, namely the Care Pathways and Outcomes study (McSherry et al., 2008; 2010; 2013; 2016; 2018).  This is funded by the UK Economic and Social Care Council (ESRC).  He has been awarded several million pounds in external grant funding for his research, and has published numerous journal articles, research reports, conference papers, books and book chapters.  He sits on several funding and governmental advisory committees, and journal editorial boards, and was guest editor for a Special Issue of Children Australia in 2018 focused on 'Exploring Outcomes for Care Experienced Children'.  

He is currently guest editor for a Special Issue of Child Abuse and Neglect on 'Adoption and Trauma', with Gina Samuels (University of Chicago) and David Brodzinsky (Rutgers University).  One of his main aims is to build the international profile of the journal, connecting the local and global, and promoting the exchange of knowledge about child and adolescent trauma across all sectors of society.