New awards to build research capacity in social care

NIHR SSCR has funded a further 12 new awards to support the School’s commitment to build research capacity in adult social care in England. Funding of £166,000 will support 5 individuals with tailored development and training activities, and 7 Masters students to work on their dissertations based with an NIHR SSCR university.

The School’s endeavours are supported by the Department of Health and Social Care and NIHR Academy’s ongoing efforts in this area.

Professor Yvonne Birks, NIHR SSCR Deputy Director and Capacity-building Lead, said:

The School has long championed increasing support for skills development and opportunities to lead or be involved in adult social care research. We have been working with the adult social care sector, the NIHR Academy and other NIHR colleagues to create opportunities to build capacity for using and doing research. These awards provide individuals with opportunities to lead and engage in research studies, gain training in research skills and methods, and gain research qualifications. I look forward to seeing how they progress.

Individual Research Career Development Awards have been awarded to:

• Chiara De Poli (London School of Economics and Political Science) focusing on research development towards an agenda for change of the ethics system in social care research
• Hannah Sanson (NHS Southern Health Foundation Trust) focusing on the social work role in mental health and whether practitioners can maintain their professional identity operating in integrated health and social care settings
• Lisa Irvine (University of Hertfordshire) around repurposing care home trial data and the development of the Virtual International Care Homes Trials Archive (VICHTA)
• Rowan Jasper (University of York) to scope the evidence and research development on older people navigating the social care system
• Sue Davies (University of Manchester) for individual research on COVID-19 and lessons for adult social care.

Commissioning is in progress for a further round of awards. The next call for individual research career development awards will open in October 2021.

Internship Awards have been awarded to:

• Jessica Weng (London School of Economics and Political Science) to explore the consequences on costs and outcomes of a small number of potential interventions to help London councils develop local communities and social care systems which are dementia-friendly
• Jingya Wu (London School of Economics and Political Science) to investigate the effectiveness of digital case management tools in helping people with dementia and their caregivers
• Laura Watts (University of Bristol) to measure the impact of burnout on frontline social care workers and how this affects the quality of their care
• Marnie Spiers (University of Bristol) to analyse social worker’s experiences of supporting individuals who have a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder.
• Naomi Rogers (London School of Economics and Political Science) to explore the evidence that is used and produced around innovations in adult social care in England
• Siobhan Bawn (University of Bristol) to how adults living in the UK used digital technologies to address social isolation and loneliness during the Covid-19 pandemic
• Stefano Brambati (University of Bristol) to develop a comprehensive picture of the experiences of LGBTQ adults living with dementia, and their carers, accessing and using social care services in England.

The next call for internship awards will open in early 2022.

Further details about these awards will be available shortly.

View further details on the School’s capacity-building activities.