Paul Willis

I am Professor of Adult Social Care, a social worker by background, and the inaugural Director of CARE - the Centre for Adult Social Care Research, based in the School of Social and Spatial Sciences at Cardiff University and located at sbarc/ spark. My research background is in social gerontology and my research focuses on issues of social inclusion and care in later life, particularly for older people belonging to minoritised groups with care and support needs. Areas of research interest and expertise: LGBTQ+ ageing and care needs in later life; housing, ageing and social inclusion; unpaid carers and social isolation; loneliness, ageing and later life; older men's social connections; social work with older people; inclusive social care practices and services.

I qualified in social work at the University of Tasmania, Australia in 2002. In practice I worked as a school social worker with children and young people 5-16 years (statutory role) and as a counsellor and community educator for a Tasmanian charity supporting people coming out as LGBT. I also briefly worked as an after-hours hospital social worker in an A&E ward. I completed my PhD in 2009 on the topic of workplace inclusion for young people identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexul and queer.