Associate Professor Franziska Meinck

Associate Professor Meinck is a social epidemiologist with a degree in social work from the Free University of Bolzano-Bozen, Italy (2008), an MSc in Evidence-Based Social Interventions and a DPhil in Social Interventions from the University of Oxford (2014). After her post-doc at the University of Oxford she joined the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Edinburgh as a Lecturer in 2019.

She is recognized internationally as an expert in the epidemiology of child abuse. She conducted the first South African survey on the prevalence of child abuse, risk factors and health outcomes, published in 2016, and she has contributed to recent studies in nine Balkan countries. In addition, in 2016 she published a practical handbook for the World Health Organization on measuring and monitoring the national prevalence of child maltreatment.

She also has experience in ethical guidance on conducting research on violence with children, and in trialling parenting interventions. Her expertise and pioneering studies were recognized in 2016 when she was awarded the ISPCAN C.Henry Kempe Award for Outstanding Young Researcher in the Field.Other recognition includes the Economic and Social Research Council Future Research Leader Award, and an European Research Council Starting Grant.

She has >36 publications, with >30 in the last 5 years in peer-reviewed journals. Many are in leading international journals (Journal of Adolescent Health, Child Abuse and Neglect, AIDS, International AIDS Society).

For more information on Associate Professor Meinck and her publications see here [opens in new window].