The Curiosity Partnership

SPRU research team

• Yvonne Birks
• Mark Wilberforce
• Kate Baxter
• Louise Newbould
• Laura Haviland

External collaborators

University of Sheffield
Professor Joanne Cooke, Professor in Research Capacity in School for Healthcare
Dr Jon Burchell, Senior Lecturer in Management

University of Hull 
Professor Joe Cook, Professor in Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources Management

University of York
Helen Weatherly, Reader in Health Economics, Centre for Health Economics

Newcastle University
Dr Phillip Whitehead, Associate Professor, Social Work Education and Community Wellbeing

Collaborators include those involved in both planning and delivering adult social care (and other key stakeholders). 

The Partnership

Watch our short animation to find out why you should join us on
the journey. 

Background

Social care does not receive the same investment in research as health care and other allied services. There are fewer opportunities for research training and funding, and a misconception that social care could not benefit from research in the same way as the NHS. In turn, social care staff generally do not feel as able to reach out for evidence, or engage in evidence creation for the benefit of practice. Universities and local authorities, working together with the wider sector and local citizens, have an opportunity to address local priorities with a new research partnership.

The Research Partnership 

Over the next four years, a number of Universities and Local Authorities across Yorkshire & Humber are coming together to build research for the benefit of older people receiving social care. The Partnership will have a number of linked strands, including:

• Work to identify local research priorities
• Communities of Practice to lead local research agendas and build evidence-informed practice
• Each local authority partner having a Research Champion who will help to make sure research is supported and to help to build a more research confident community.
• Opportunities for secondments, placements, pump-priming research ideas, PhD study and more;
• A Research Academy to share and build research skills.

Evaluation

The partnership will be subject to an ongoing evaluation based on the RCDi framework. This will enable us to better understand the success of the network in improving research capacity.