King's College London

Summary

New Social Care Capacity Building awards are available for social care practitioners working in adult and children’s social care in South London.

Applying to the Programme

For more information and TO APPLY go to: Social Care Research Capacity Building Programme ARC South London

Apply early to secure your place. The closing date for applications is 9.00 am on 8th July 2024. You will be notified of your application outcome by the 31st of July. If all the awards are not taken up in the first round, a further round may be offered in Spring 2025.

For further information please do not hesitate to contact Maria Brent at: SHARE@kingston.ac.uk to arrange an informal discussion.

The ARC South London webpage also has information on online information workshops about the programme on Wednesday 29th May, 12.30-1.30 or Thursday 6th June, 11.30-12.30.

Aims

To build research capacity in adult and children’s social care by supporting applicants to engage in a range of activities. We welcome applications from social care practitioners wishing to develop their research capacity and capability.

• Applicants should work in social care in South London and wish to undertake activities such as: research training, developing a research project, or undertaking a placement with a research team.
• Applicants’ employers must agree to them taking time out from their current role to build research skills (£5000 or £9000 is available for employers).
• Applicants can tailor flexible activities over a time frame that suits them.
• Additional funds are available to cover training course fees.

Successful applicants will be able to access a tailored Continuous Professional Development (CPD) capacity building programme. They will be able to choose from options including: mentorship/advice clinic drop-ins, peer learning, research skills and methods training, shadow/design or contribute to research, analysis and evaluation relevant to practice either within their own organisation or as part of an academic-led joint practitioner academic team (CPD placement).

They will be encouraged to build closer links with social care, research-active practitioners and the ARC SL with the aim of developing future research projects. Anyone employed by a South London local authority, care provider or non-profit organisation, such as a charity, is eligible to apply. Practitioners will be prioritised applying from, or on behalf of, underserved communities.

Project Duration

1 April 2024 – 31 March 2026

Funder

ARC South London has been awarded funding by the NIHR to build capacity in social care research.

Advisory Group

The programme advisory group will meet bi-annually to review progress.

See also

NIHR ARC South London news item (20 February 2024) about this project.

Project Team

Principal Investigator: Cilla Harries, Head of Graduate Research School and Researcher Development, Kingston University, NIHR ARC Academic Career Development Lead, and Deputy Theme Lead for Research Capacity Development for the NIHR ARC South London.

Deputy Lead: Caroline Norrie, Senior Research Fellow, HSCWRU, KCL (ARC SL Social Care Deputy Theme Lead).

Project Lead: Maria Brent, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Health, Social Care and Education, Kingston University.