Professor Martin Webber

Profile

Academic biography

I am a registered social worker with practice experience with adults with a learning disability and mental health problems. I have almost 30 years experience in social work education and research, having led qualifying and post-qualifying programmes and substantial research projects in mental health social care and social work. I currently lead the Mental Health Social Care Research Centre which has a portfolio of studies including randomised controlled trials, realist evaluations and measurement development. We particularly focus on engaging marginalised groups in research, addressing social determinants of mental health and bridging across health, social care and community contexts to develop and evaluate innovative practice which aims to improve mental health.

Research

Research

As Director of the Mental Health Social Care Research Centre I lead a portfolio of studies and a team of post-doctoral researchers. The team and the studies we conduct evolves over time, but further information about our current projects can be found on the Centre webpage. I am particularly interested in developing the evidence base for mental health social care and social work through experimental studies. This includes feasibility trials (e.g. skills-enhancing programme for mental health carers and Seeking Safety group intervention for people with complex post-traumatic stress disorder) and definitive randomised controlled trials (e.g. Community Navigators for people with depression). Connected to this, I am interested in the development and validation of tools for practitioners and researchers to use to evaluate social outcomes. This includes prior work on the Resource Generator-UK and current work on a social frailty screening tool. I also conduct evaluations of mental health care and support provided by non-mental health specialists such as community and voluntary sector organisations; other public sector professionals; or within primary care. I am particularly interested in interventions which address social determinants of mental health, including improving people’s social connections and access to social capital. I also undertake research on the role of mental health social workers.

Key research interests:

• Mental health social care and social work
• Development and evaluation of mental health social interventions
• Social determinants of mental health
• Experimental studies

Research projects (recent and current)

Please see our Mental Health Social Care Research Centre pages

Teaching

Teaching

I teach across the MSocW and MA in Social Work programmes on topics connected to my research, mental health social work or research methodology. I supervise PhD students on topics connected to my research interests.

Publications

Publications

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