About Sarah

Sarah Galvani is the Professor of Adult Social Care at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her passion for her work in substance use stemmed from her early practice experiences with homeless people in London and New York. This passion continued into her social work education and practice in spite of the disciplinary challenges this posed. These challenges provided the impetus for her work and research which seeks to improve social work and social care responses to substance use as well as a promoting a wider understanding of social harms of substance use.

Sarah joined MMU in September 2014 following six years at the Tilda Goldberg Centre for Social Work and Social Care (TGC) at the University of Bedfordshire. She remains a registered social worker, with a background in mental health, homelessness, and substance use in both the UK and USA. She has also worked for the probation service and with women experiencing domestic abuse, as well as voluntary work in palliative care, needle exchange programmes, with people with HIV/Aids, and in substance use services. As with many academics from applied professions, Sarah started her academic career late following the completion of her PhD on Women’s Perspectives: the Role of Alcohol in Violence to Women at University of Hull in 2003. Domestic and sexual violence, and its relationship with substance use, remain a second area of passion and expertise.