ADR England Research Community Catalyst: Children at Risk of Poor Outcomes

Status: Active

Children in contact with early intervention services or children’s social care tend to be at greater risk of poor social, health and educational outcomes. National and local organisations supporting these children produce a wealth of administrative data as they carry out their services. These data could be used to explore how to reduce these risks and ultimately improve children’s lives.

However, at present, not enough researchers are using these data, nor are they consistently addressing the issues most important to policymakers, practitioners, or families. Knowledge is fragmented; there is no clear sense of research gaps or priorities, and where evidence exists, it is often underused.

Co-funded by ADR England and Foundations – What Works Centre for Children and Families, this project will establish a broad and diverse community of researchers and analysts focused using (or aspiring to use) de-identified administrative data, to address these issues. It is led by Swansea University, Lancaster University, Imperial College London, University College London, and the University of Sussex. The project is also supported by:

The project

The Research Community Catalyst: Children at Risk of Poor Outcomes will deliver a two-year programme of networking and information sharing events, along with coaching workshops. In addition, it will foster closer connections between researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. The project will result in a well-connected, better-informed community of researchers, that sees closer alignment of their research agenda with stakeholder priorities.

The community catalyst has four interlinked areas of work:

  1. Provide national strategic leadership. The project will synthesise existing child-focused research using administrative data, and undertake in-depth stakeholder engagement work, to outline research priorities. It will deliver an open access report, with recommendations on how to address barriers to delivering the research.
  2. Build capacity to use administrative and other large-scale datasets. The project will establish a web-based "one-stop shop" for child-focused researchers, complemented by an effective communications strategy and online information events. This area aims to raise awareness of the value and availability of administrative data resources, attract new community members, and forge greater connections between those already using the data.
  3. Strengthen and expand a diverse administrative data research community. The project will deliver networking events, focusing on ADR UK flagship datasets and use cases. Coaching workshops will support individuals who are new to administrative data research and facilitate collaborations between more experienced researchers.
  4. Provide a research fellowship opportunity. The project will provide a bespoke opportunity for an embedded research fellow to access and use the Education and Child Health Insights from Linked Data (ECHILD) database. The fellow will receive supervision from the core team.

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Potential of the project

An overarching ambition of the community catalyst is to raise the profile of the value of administrative data for research into children at risk of poor outcomes, leading to more sustainable investment into this domain of research and policy. This project will also communicate research priorities to a range of funders. This should encourage new funding opportunities for researchers focused on early intervention services or children’s social care.

The core project team comprises experts in children’s social care, paediatrics, data science, epidemiology and statistics. By joining up academics with interdisciplinary expertise across five universities, the project aspires to create a strong coalition of child-focused researchers and practitioners, united in its advocacy for children and young people.

Project details

Project leads: Professor Lucy Griffiths, Swansea University, and Professor Karen Broadhurst, Lancaster University

Funded value: £759,592.49 (full economic cost)

Duration: January 2024 – January 2026

This project is funded by the ADR England budget in support of the ADR England Strategy in consultation with an independent expert panel. This project is part of the ADR England portfolio. Details of the funding grant awarded for this project can also be found on the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Gateway to Research.

Categories: Research using linked data, Datasets, ADR England, Children & young people, Crime & justice, Inequality & social inclusion

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