Developing expertise and building networks
Camille Oung, Nuffield Trust, (SSCR Career Development Award Alumni)
My (right) visit to Nightingale Hammerson care home to shadow staff with my colleague Cyril Lobont (left), kindly supported by Nuno and Daisy (middle).
I was fortunate to be awarded an NIHR School for Social Care Research career development award (CDA) in 2022. I was working at the time as a researcher at the Nuffield Trust (where I still work), a think tank that undertakes research and policy analysis to help inform health and social care policy in the UK. When I applied for a CDA, I had been working for two years, all of which I spent at the Nuffield Trust. I was keen to expand my horizons and learn new methods, and the CDA came at the perfect time to allow me to do this.
I remember sitting in a meeting around the time of the development of the social care White Paper in which someone said that there was too much of a gulf between social care work on the ground and decision-makers in Whitehall. I realised then that I too had very limited exposure to what social care looked like in practice. In order for me to undertake good quality research on social care reform, I needed to be more grounded in the needs and aspirations of people who draw on care, and people who deliver and commission it.
What did I use my CDA for?
My CDA was structured around two main activities:
- Developing methods expertise in comparative research, as much of my research has sought to gather learning from other countries around social care reform,
- Gaining exposure to policy and practice through shadowing local authorities and organisations that deliver care and support, and building networks in different areas of social care.
For the first, I attended a course at LSE on comparative methodology which was immensely helpful in bringing a theoretical underpinning of social care systems in other countries to my research.
For the second, I started with a number of meetings with other academic researchers working to bridge practice with research, care providers and commissioners to help me identify exactly what I was hoping to get out of shadowing.
I spent an intensive week shadowing in a local authority, attending meetings across the social services department and having one-to-ones with people leading on specific areas, such as market sustainability and the care workforce. I was also keen to give something back to my hosts at the end of my week, so I put together a rapid literature review of research on self-funder attitudes and expectations towards care in anticipation of the charging reforms that were due to start later that year.
I was then offered a secondment to the Department of Health and Social Care, and I was fortunate that the SSCR agreed me the flexibility to put the CDA on hiatus while I undertook this. I returned to my role and the CDA in 2024 and organised another intensive week of shadowing in a very different local authority from the previous one I’d visited. I saw lots of different services, such as dementia step-down beds, day centres, and homeless short-term support beds.
I also undertook some day visits to shadow staff in care homes supporting people living with dementia. It was very special to be allowed into people’s lives – I kept those experiences at the forefront of my mind in some subsequent research we undertook on what needs to improve for social care to better support people living with dementia.
How was the CDA beneficial?
The CDA funded dedicated time for me to develop an much more in-depth understanding of the social care sector and how the day-to-day operates, to gain new skills, and build relationships that have continued to be an asset as my career has progressed. It can often be hard to prioritise development alongside competing deadlines and priorities. Being able to spend this time out of my usual work environment has enhanced my approach to research, because I have a more complete understanding of who my research is for and what’s at stake if I don’t get it right.
It is amazing how many people are willing to take time to help you out – supervisors offering guidance, and local practitioners organising meetings and visits, accommodating (sometimes silly) questions, and they are often keen on the perspective of an ‘outsider’ on their issues and approaches. I am a relatively early career researcher, and I imagine others will recognise the nervousness of reaching out to more experienced networks. Having the CDA under my belt gave me licence to do so, and through this I grew more confident in working with a range of individuals and in what I have to offer too.
More tangibly, the learning from my CDA has contributed to my career progression. In my opinion it’s because I was able to draw on local experiences and contacts, combined with a research perspective, that I was offered a secondment into the civil service. I have also progressed to a Fellow post within the Nuffield Trust, taking on more management of individuals and research, and often look back to the learning from the CDA and the contacts I made to support my work. I intend to build more interfaces between policy and practice as I progress in the next stages of my career.
One of the other benefits of the CDA is meeting other researchers and social care professionals at the networking events organised by the SSCR team. I’ve been struck by the range of experiences – the CDA being not only open to more academic researchers but people in practice too – and how each has chosen to structure the award to meet their professional needs. The CDA can be a great opportunity to proactively consider what your individual career development looks like, and I hope many others will be able to benefit from NIHR’s career development opportunities in the future.
