The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration Kent, Surrey and Sussex (ARC KSS) has awarded four individuals, from across the region, funding to develop their research knowledge, skills and experience in adult social care research.
Launched in April 2024, the ARC KSS Adult Social Care Award funding call was designed to support individuals, working in or with strong links to the social care sector in Kent, Surrey and Sussex, to develop research projects and activities through financial support and a bespoke training programme for up to 18 months. The aim is to strengthen applied adult social care research to the benefit of people using adult social care services, their carers, families and the general public, in the region.
We were able to fund three larger projects, as Fellowships, and a smaller Springboard award. These started in October 2024, for up to 18 months. Individual awardees are from a range of employers across the region, including Universities, care providers and local authorities, and from diverse professional backgrounds. They will be supported by professional mentors from academia and social care practice, and through a national learning community, designed to support research capacity building in the sector.
The awardees include:
- Lilly Trapp, Research Facilitator for Adult Social Care, Kent County Council will complete a Fellowship project on Improving the recruitment and retention of asylum-seeking care workers.
- Sophie Jones, Social Worker, East Sussex County Council will complete a Fellowship project on Community deprivation of liberty safeguards (DoLS) in social work practice.
- Dr Alison Charles, Research Assistant, University of Kent will be an embedded researcher (Themed Project Fellow) on an ARC Social Care and Social Work National Priority Programme project on Wellbeing in older adult care homes.
- Lucinda Kalupka, Director of Home Counties Carers will complete a Springboard Award to conduct A local service evaluation of a new model of care for older adults (‘Hatha Helpers’).
Dr Stacey Rand, Senior Research Fellow at Personal Social Sciences Research Unit (PSSRU), University of Kent and Social Care Capacity Building Lead at ARC KSS, said:
"These Awards are being launched as part of our wider offer to build capacity in social care research through a range of initiatives and activities. They will support the development of future and emerging researchers, enabling them to increase their research skills and experience, confidence and engagement with researchers, professionals and organisations across the social care sector."
In receiving the award, Dr Charles from the University of Kent. said: "As a researcher coming into social care research from another discipline, the Themed Project Fellowship award is an incredible developmental opportunity, which will consolidate and catalyse my continuing transition from supporting to undertaking social care research.”
Sophie Jones, Social Worker at East Sussex County Council said:
“This is an exciting opportunity to strengthen the links between practice and research in Adult Social Care”.
Former Nurse, Lucinda Kalupka, now Director of Home Counties Carers, said:
“I have been in health and social care all my working life. I have seen first-hand the positive impact research can have on the services we provide and how we can improve them and do better. I am so pleased to have this opportunity to research an exciting new role in the care sector, the Hatha Helper, which could revolutionise the social care model.”
Further information:
The Awards are supported by funding from of the NIHR's ARC Social Care Capacity Building infrastructure. Under this programme, ARC KSS and other regional ARCs were each awarded up to £260,000, across two years. The aim is to build social care research capacity through projects and targeted research-related activities to promote the professional development of researchers (working across academia and practice), whose focus is applied research for the benefit of people using services, their families, the social care workforce and wider public.
