Social care research in Wales

The School of Social Sciences has secured significant new funding for research in the field of children's social care. This funding (more than £0.5M) comprises three research grants awarded to academics in the School. The first of these is a large, four nation project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Dr Sally Holland will lead a team of researchers from Edinburgh, Queen's and Southampton Universities to investigate how social workers communicate with children in their daily work in Wales, England, Northern Ireland and Scotland. The TLC project: Social Workers Talking and Listening to Children will research child protection investigations as well as longer-term relationships with children in care. The research will produce new findings in this important area of social work and outputs will include training materials and guidance for practitioners. The second project, also led by Dr Holland, is an audit of Local Safeguarding Children's Boards in Wales and their responses to child neglect.