Making Research Count – informing practice through research

Making Research Count (MRC) is a national collaborative research dissemination initiative, established by a network of Universities (including UEA) and operating from bases at nine regional universities. All the universities in the network have a proven track record in social work and social care research as well as providing social work education at qualifying and post qualifying levels.

Each Making Research Count university-based regional centre works in partnership with its member agencies, to promote and develop knowledge-based practice in social work and social care, bringing together the best of practitioner knowledge and expertise, knowledge from academic research, and information and expertise from service users and carers. These partnerships have a range of objectives:

  • Improving the dissemination and implementation of research findings;
  • Enabling participants from the participating agencies to make sense of research;
  • Helping agencies develop their skills in evaluating their existing practices and policies, and apply research awareness to service development;
  • Involving managers and practitioners in setting research agendas;
  • Encouraging agency responsibility for establishing a knowledge based practice culture;Incorporating service users' and carers' views;
  • Encouraging networking among professionals.

Currently, there are 9 universities involved in Making Research Count, having in total some 60 member agencies. Making Research Count (UEA) was founded in 1997, with Professor June Thoburn as one of its founder members. The UEA programme has five partner agencies, each paying an annual subscription in return for a negotiated range of services. Our current partners are:

Essex County Council Children and Young People's Services
Essex County Council Adult Social Care
Norfolk County Council Children and Young People's Services
Norfolk County Council Adult Social Care
Suffolk County Council Children and Young People's Services

We provide each agency with a programme of events, on topics of their own choosing and delivered individually to them in their own locality. Topics reflect the research interests of the School of Social Work and the priorities of the individual agencies, and recent seminars have covered planning for permanence in foster care; adoption research; intensive family services for families with complex problems; looked-after children and offending; young people and substance misuse; learning from serious case reviews; information sharing vs. confidentiality; reflective supervision in social work; mental capacity, safeguarding and direct payments; and end-of-life issues.

In addition UEA's partner authorities come together for an annual regional conference, enabling those attending to share practice experience with colleagues from other local authorities.

The academic lead for Making Research Count (UEA) is Professor Gillian Schofield, and the project coordinator is Sue Bailey. If your organisation would be interested in becoming a partner, or you would like further information on Making Research Count at the University of East Anglia, please contact Sue:
Tel: 01603 593557
Email: s.e.bailey@uea.ac.uk