BA Social Work (Zagreb, Croatia), MA (Anglia Ruskin), PhD (Anglia Ruskin)

Rea started studying social work in parallel to the 1991-1995 war in her home country of Croatia. Her social work education and practice experiences in this period sparked an interest in challenges to links between social work education and practice (including political conflict). She explored these topics during her PhD studies, through a cross-cultural counterpartal co-operative inquiry on social work education. This involved social work students, practitioners and service users in England (Cambridge) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo) jointly researching the nature of social work education.  

In 1994, Rea moved to Cambridge, England, where she worked as a Research Officer at ‘Shield’, an agency based at the Anglia Ruskin University which aimed to link social work learning, research and practice. She also worked as an occasional lecturer on the DipSW programme at Anglia Ruskin. Together with the late Prof. David Brandon who initiated ‘Shield’, Rea worked on some of the first studies on direct payments in the UK. Her interest in service user involvement in social work education, research and practice dates to this period; for example, Rea co-delivered a module on Social Work with People with Learning Difficulties with the Parliamentary Representative for people with learning difficulties, Ms. Simone Aspis and supported representatives of a local survivor-run mental health organisation to conduct an evaluation of their work.  

From 1999 to 2007, Rea lived in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). She first worked as a Project Manager for a TEMPUS funded project that initiated Community Mental Health MA programmes at the Universities in Sarajevo and Banja Luka (BiH). In parallel, she supported the development of the mental health system survivor movement in BiH and took part in some of the first studies on the reform of community mental health services in this country. From 2003, Rea worked as a freelance consultant, mainly conducting child and adult protection reform research for a variety of international organisations across South-Eastern Europe, including UNICEF, Save the Children UK, European Commission, USAID and DFID.  

In September 2007, Rea took post as a Programme Director for the BSc Social Work Programme at the School of Human Sciences.  

Current research interests include:

• reform processes in child and adult social protection;  

• co-operation between relevant stakeholders (i.e. service users, carers, grassroots professionals, students, policy makers) in education, research, policy making and practice innovation, impact of international and supranational voluntary sector organisations on social protection reform in developing countries (particularly in the South-East Europe).

 Most recent research includes:

• Assessment of Child Protection Reform in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), for the UNICEF Regional Office for CEE/CIS, Geneva

Most recent publications include:

Maglajlić, R.A. (2007) Opportunities for participation of children and youth in BiH, in Rašidagić, E.K. (ed.) Children and youth issues in human rights context in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sarajevo: Rabic/IBHI: 53-82, also available from http://www.dijete.org/pdf/Book_eng.pdf (site accessed on 9th of August 2007).  

Maglajlić Holiček, R.A. and Rašidagić, E.K. (2007) ‘Bosnia and Herzegovina’, in Deacon, B. and Stubbs, P. (eds.) Social Policy and International Interventions in South East Europe. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar: 149-166 

Maglajlić Holiček, R.A. and Rašidagić, E.K. (forthcoming) ‘The Role of NGOs in Societies Facing War – Experiences from Bosnia and Herzegovina’, in Ramon, S. (ed.) Social Work in the Context of Political Conflict. Birmingham: IASSW and Venture Press 

Key publications:

Maglajlić, R.A. (1998) Social work, social care, care management and user involvement, in Compton, B.R. and Galaway, B. (eds.) Social Work Processes (6^th ed). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company: 380 – 391 – reissued in the 2005 7^th edition 

Maglajlić, R.A., Bryant, M., Brandon, D. and Given, D. (1998) Direct payments in mental health, Breakthrough 2(3): 33 – 43 

Brandon, D., Maglajlić, R.A. and Khoo, R. (1998) European snap-shot survey of attitudes towards mental health, Breakthrough 2(2): 5-20 

Payne, J., Brandon, D., Maglajlić, R. and Hawkes, A. (1998) Direct payments for Older People. Cambridge: Anglia Polytechnic University 

Brandon, D., Khoo, R., Ambler, S., Maglajlić, R.A., Svensson, A. and Abuel-Ealeh, M. (1999) European snapshot homeless survey, Social Work in Europe 6(1): 51- 56 

Brandon, D. Maglajlić, R.A. and Given D. (1999) Direct Payments in Mental Health, Mental Health Practice 2(10): 30-31 

Brandon, D. and Maglajlić, R. (2000) Direct payments: the information deficit, Working with older people 4(3): 26-27 

Maglajlić, R, Brandon, D. and Given, D. (2000) Making Direct Payments a Choice: a report on the research findings, Disability & Society. 15(1): 99 – 113 

Maglajlić, R. A. (2001) A new dawn: the changing face of mental health services in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mental Health & Learning Disabilities Care 4(12): 401 - 404 

Weiss, I., Gal, J., Cnaan, R. and Maglajlić, R. (2002) What kind of social policy do social work students prefer?, International Social Work. 45(1): 59-81 

Weiss, I., Gal, J. Cnaan, R. A. and Maglajlić, R. (2002) Where does it begin? A comparative perspective on the professional preferences of first-year social work students, British Journal of Social Work. 32: 589-608 

Maglajlić, R.A. (2002) Co-operative Inquiry in Cambridge and Sarajevo: Towards a critical understanding of social work education, in Ramon, S. (ed.) Users Researching Health and Social Care: An Empowering Innovation? Birmingham: Venture Press: 111-122 

Maglajlić, R.A. and RTK PAR BiH Team (2004) Right to Know, UNICEF BiH – Developing a Communication Strategy for the Prevention of HIV/AIDS among young people through PAR, Child Care in Practice. 10(2): 127-139 

Maglajlić, R.A., Alidžanović, L., Bunčić, R., Delibašić, B., Dragić, S., Hrkalović, Dž., Hukić, N., Jelačić, E., Kukolj, S., Matović, D., Miraščić, E., Mujanović, L., Šarić, S., Trninić, J., Uštović, K., Zulić, N. and Zarchin, J. (2004) Right to Know, UNICEF Bosnia and Herzegovina – Developing a Communication Strategy for the Prevention of HIV/AIDS Among Young People Through Participatory Action Research, Research Policy and Planning 22(2): 39-50 

Maglajlić, R.A. and Hodžić, E. (2006) Political participation, in Dizdarević et al., Democracy Assessment in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sarajevo: Open Society Fund: 313-350, also available from http://www.soros.org.ba/images_vijesti/Istrazivanje%20demokratije/Democracy%20Assessment%20in%20Bosnia%20and%20Herzegovina.pdf (site accessed on the 8^th of August 2007).  

Maglajlic, R.A., and Tiffany, J. (2006) Participatory Action Research with Youth in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Checkoway, B.N and Gutierrez, L.M. (eds.) Youth Participation and Community Change. The Haworth Press: 163-182 

Maglajlic, R.A. and Tiffany, J. (2006) Participatory Action Research with Youth in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Journal of Community Practice, 14(1/2): 161-181

Telephone: +44 (0)1792 602732

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