Danny Connelly

I am Assistant Professor in Community and Youth Work within the Department of Applied Social Studies where I have worked since January 2025. I teach across a range of undergraduate and postgraduate modules in relation to youth work theory, practice and policy.

I have over ten years of youth work experience, including leadership roles, and I have previously held education and research positions in Manchester, Yorkshire and London. I hold a First Class BA in Youth and Community Work. I achieved a First Class MA in Educational Research for conducting an ethnography with dispossessed and marginalised sections of working-class youth, critically analysing the intersections of social class, education and employment. My PhD in Education was awarded in 2024 which constitutes a critical evaluation of the changing relationship between young people and youth work, through analysis of practitioners’ perspectives on youth work employability provision.

More broadly, I am interested in a range of social justice issues, primarily shaped by my experience working in inner-city areas with socioeconomically disadvantaged young people. I am committed to deepening academic discourse on young people, social inequalities, and youth work, whilst also seeking to influence policy and practice to create environments where all young people, regardless of background, can thrive.