Scoping exercise in Social work and social care research related activity 2026

Overview

Introduction

The Social Care Council’s Strategic Research and Evidence Partnership leads on research and evidence in professional social work and social care services to support better outcomes for practitioners, service users and carers in Northern Ireland.

Members of the partnership include a wide range of stakeholders; government departments and other relevant research constituencies, senior representatives from higher education institutions, health and social care, justice, education and voluntary and private sectors, service users and carers and the professional body for social workers and social care workers in Northern Ireland.

One of the aims of the partnership is to encourage, promote and support social work and social care research and research-related activity at a strategic level. As part of this work, the partnership is leading on this scoping survey to establish the baseline of research and evidence related activities in social work and social care sectors across Northern Ireland. We are interested in any activity that is currently underway or undertaken within the last two years. This is important as research is regularly used to inform decisions in policy and practice.

To find out more about the partnership, check out our website: Building our research capacity - NISCC. 2026/27 meeting schedule, previous agendas and minutes are also available at: https://niscc.info/committees-and-partnerships/

This survey was produced by Anne McGlade, Social Care Council in collaboration with Jacqueline McGarry, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, James Todd, Southern Health and Social Care Trust and Annie McAnallen, Probation Office NI.

This scoping survey is for:

• Senior Managers and Team Leaders in Social Work (Across all services and organisations)
• Senior Managers and Team Leaders in Social Care (Across all services and organisations)

Why your views matter

This survey is important, as we go forward with the strategic research agenda, to have a better view and understanding of the current landscape of research, evaluation and quality improvement activity across the social work and social care sector in Northern Ireland. This will have a number of benefits including helping identify strengths, gaps and duplication; improve coordination and collaboration; increase visibility and dissemination. Collectively this will inform strategic planning as well as strengthening research and improvement culture across social work and social care in Northern Ireland.