Kenneth Burns is a senior lecturer in social work (CORU reg. # SW003803), and programme director of the Bachelor of Social Work at University College Cork. He has worked as a social worker and social work team leader in child protection and welfare. His main research and teaching interests are in child protection policy and practice, staff retention, social media and online abuse in social work, child care proceedings in the District Court / voluntary care / informal kinship care, and community-based participatory research. He was twice awarded the President's Award for Excellence in Teaching. Kenneth was the Principal Investigator of an interdisciplinary research team that won the UCC Research Team of the Year Award. Kenneth was a co-author of a paper that won the European Social Work Research Association's outstanding publication award, and a co-author of one of the most-read papers in the British Journal of Social Work. He is an active participant in community based research completing a study every year with UCC staff and PhD students as part of the PG6025 module. 
 
Kenneth is the Principal Investigator of a study of social media abuse and harassment in social work (2022-present), a study on fitness to practice in social work (2025-present), and is a co-investigator in a UCC/TCD study on the operation of the 'in camera' rule in family law court proceedings on behalf of the Department of Justice (2024-present). Kenneth is a founding member of: the National Child Protection and Welfare National Conference; Community Academic Research Links (CARL); Practice Links; the Online Social Work Practice Initiative, and the @UCCsocialwork webinar series. Kenneth is a research associate with the Institute for Social Sciences in the 21st Century (ISS21) and a research collaborator at the Centre for Research on Discretion and Paternalism, University of Bergen, Norway. Kenneth is an independent research ethics advisor to the SERENA Horizon Europe study (2025-2029).

Kenneth is a board member of Barnardos Ireland (2023-present) and is chairperson of the Barnardos Services Committee. 

Kenneth has coached or managed these sports teams: Cork LGFA (underage), Grenagh LGFA (underage), Mid Cork LGFA (underage), and Waterloo AFC (adult).