Who's Who? - Our Team
Neil Thompson
Professional profile
Appointed Professor of Applied Social Studies at Staffordshire University in January, 1996, Neil Thompson BA(Hons), CQSW, MBA, PhD, QDR, MAE, MISMA, FCIPD, FRSA is now a Director of Avenue Consulting Ltd, offering training, consultancy, independent investigations, mediation and expert witness services. With many years' experience of dealing with people and their problems in a health and social welfare context, Neil offers considerable expertise in staff and management development, organisational problem-solving, service development and conflict resolution.
With a number of prestigious publications in the fields of stress and staff care, equality and diversity and human resource development, Neil Thompson is a nationally and internationally renowned author whose constructive and insightful approach to training and consultancy can bring considerable benefit to a wide range of organisations that rely on effective 'people work'.
He has acted as a trainer and/or consultant to organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors, as well as academic institutions, including the Open University. Between 2002 and 2004 he acted as a business advisor for the Welsh Development Agency's SME Equality Project.
Neil is also qualified in mediation and alternative dispute resolution and can offer to act as a mediator in resolving disputes that would otherwise require litigation or other formal proceedings. Neil is particularly effective in dealing with complex, sensitive issues that need very careful and skilful handling.
He is able to operate with staff at all levels of an organisation, from support staff and basic grade practitioners through to senior management and board level. He has experience as a non-executive director of a company and as a member of the Board of Governors of a higher education institution. He has also worked extensively in the legal system as an expert witness.
Neil is an experienced and sought-after conference speaker. He has presented at conferences and seminars in Britain, Ireland, Spain, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Hong Kong, Canada, the United States and Australia. He has links with academics, practitioners and managers in numerous countries throughout the world.
Neil was the founding editor of the British Journal of Occupational Learning and is the series editor for the Russell House series of books, Theory into Practice (www.russellhouse.co.uk).
Background
Neil Thompson was born in North Wales on 4th November, 1955. He attended local schools, specialising in languages before commencing a degree in French and Linguistics at the London School of Economics in 1974. In 1976, he left LSE, having become more interested in sociology, psychology and philosophy than linguistics. In 1977, he began his career in social work as a residential child care officer with the then Clwyd County Council. By 1982 he had achieved the Certificate of Qualification in Social Work (CQSW) from Liverpool University, and the following year, completed a part-time degree with the Open University, achieving first-class honours in social sciences.
In 1983 he moved from Clwyd Social Services to neighbouring Cheshire Social Services where he was to spend a total of eight years, first as a social worker in the Intake Team at Chester District Office, and later as a team leader, initially in the general hospital team and later with a child care team.
During his time with Cheshire he took an active part in training matters. He served as a practice teacher on several occasions, convened a practice teachers' support group and was chair of the District Training Group. He also had two periods of secondment as a university lecturer, first at Keele University and later at Liverpool University.
In 1990 Neil gained his PhD from Keele University, having researched the links between existentialist philosophy and theory and practice in the human services. This theory base has remained an important underpinning for his writings and has been a major theme, explicitly or implicitly, of all his academic work.
In 1991 Neil left Cheshire to rejoin Clwyd as a training officer in child protection. However, by 1992, he had moved on to North East Wales Institute, Wrexham (NEWI) where he became a senior lecturer. In the meantime he had achieved his MBA from the Open University in 1991.
In 1996 Neil was appointed Professor of Applied Social Studies at Staffordshire University. He subsequently decided to leave the university to develop his role as a trainer, consultant, author and expert witness, retaining links with a number of academic institutions.
Neil and Sue were married in 1974, and their daughter, Anna, was born in 1982. For a number of years they acted as respite foster carers and were members of the National Foster Care Association.
Neil became a Visiting Professor at the University of Liverpool in December, 1999. With Sue, he founded Avenue Consulting Ltd and Learning Curve Publishing in 2000. Neil continues to contribute to the development of theory and practice in the human services but is also actively involved in working with a number of organisations experiencing human resource-related problems - undertaking what Neil refers to as 'occupational social work'. (For a discussion of 'occupational social work' click here)
See also www.neilthompson.info
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