Set out below are some resources from the National Institute for Health and Care Research that may be useful for local authorities:
Costing tool for local authorities to calculate the costs of research
This costing tool was designed to support LAs wishing to calculate the costs of research projects and activities. It provides practical guidance on key factors to consider when completing research funding applications and can be used if leading on a funding application or providing costings for your organisation’s involvement in a collaborative funding bid. There is a downloadable worked example and a clean, ready to use version. It was developed by the NIHR RSS Specialist Centre for Public Health at Newcastle University.
Research building capacity tools
The following outputs are from the School for Social Care Research (SSCR) funded Practitioner-Researcher Use of Evidence Scoping Study. Over the past year, research capacity building opportunities available to people working in social care and social work across England have been mapped and turned that into practical tools to help practitioners find their way into a surprisingly fragmented area where practitioners often struggle to see what is open to them.
The Study is led by Hannah Kendrick, with Juliette Malley and Sharon Paul and looks at the potential of practitioner-researcher roles and what helps or hinders them. For more on the wider study, please see How do social care "practitioner-researchers" influence decision making within social care organisations? There are three outputs to share:
Theory of Change infographic
This sets out how practitioner-researchers in social care and social work might contribute to more evidence-informed services and better outcomes for the workforce and the people who use them. The Theory of Change is still aspirational, but practitioners, managers and funders may find it a useful way to understand the pathways through which practitioner-researchers can influence evidence use and practice.
Research capacity building infographic
This maps the research capacity building landscape on a single page, organised by career stage.
Research Capacity Finder
An interactive tool that filters opportunities by role and region, so a practitioner can quickly see what they may be eligible for.
Bid Writing Workshops for HTA Social Care Funding
In partnership with the Research Support Service (RSS), the NIHR is running an in person writing workshop on 20th October in London to support applications to the NIHR Health Technology Assessment (HTA) programme for social care funding. This follows three webinars also designed to encourage applications to evaluate HTA social care interventions for both adults and children (webinar recordings are also available at the above link). The workshop will consist of a series of short presentations in the morning. In the afternoon, researchers will have dedicated time to draft applications and discuss their specific proposals directly with HTA and RSS team members. Applicants are asked to complete an Expression of Interest (EOI) to attend the workshop by Friday 21st August and we will allocate two places to each successful team. EOIs should be emailed to htaresearchers@nihr.ac.uk.