We are delighted to share that, following two highly competitive funding calls in 2025, we have awarded eighteen Career Development Awards.
This opportunity provides practitioners and researchers with funding and dedicated time to undertake personalised programmes of training and development to reach their research career goals.
At the School for Social Care Research, we are committed to providing practitioners and researchers with the vital tools to build a strong and sustainable career in social care research. Our Career Development Awards offer up to £75,000 for awardees to undertake a range of activities – from formal training, network-building, NIHR grant or doctoral preparation, or early project activity.
Congratulations to our cohort of Career Development Award-holders!
Find out more about their topics of interest and award plans below:
- Lucy Allison: Examining the role of the unpaid Relevant Persons Representative (RPR) within the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS)
- Tamara Batchelor: Developing My Career in Mental Health Social Care Research
- Atlanta Bradshaw: Developing as a researcher-practitioner to be doctoral ready
- Joanne Bush: Conversations that count: Exploring dialogue between social workers and carers
- Erica Ferris: Toward Research-Informed Policy For Young Adult Carers: Meeting The Financial Needs Of Young People With Caring Responsibilities
- Miriam Golding-Day: Exploring the implementation of expedited bathing adaptations in the homes of older adults (BATH-OUT)
- Bronte Heath: Building solid foundations in social care research for a future doctoral award application
- Lucie Hogger: Understanding feasibility of an innovative video-reflexive method in care homes: working with PPIE co-applicants and developing a social care research career
- Rachel Kelso: Facilitating a hybrid career trajectory for a direct care worker within adult social care research
- Jessica La: Building a career as a research leader in social care communication research
- Jenny Liddle: Shaping the Future of Social Care: Developing Skills, Knowledge and Connections for Research Leadership
- Daniel Moonman: Supervision in adult social care
- Bethany Morgan Brett: Developing Skills for Inclusive Research in Care Homes and Strengthening Capacity for Meaningful Community Engagement
- Richard Orson: Developing socio-legal research skills to support adult safeguarding, and mental capacity related practice and outcomes in adult social care.
- Caroline Volles-Loos: Developing Data-Science Skills for Inclusive, Evidence-Based Care
- Liz Wands-Murray: Development of workforce cultural competence in homecare
- Chloe Waterman: Community social care supports for the recently bereaved, partnership building and training grant
- Cheryl Wright: Foundations for a Practitioner-Researcher Pathway
Our third and final round of funding will open later in 2026. To be the first to hear when this is live, register your details via this Qualtrics link.
