Bridging the gap between social care practice and research: Our network celebrates the past two years
Sarah Jasim, Mike Clarke, Doris Mutsando, Stephen Bahooshy, Sally Nieman, Michela Tinelli, Hoi Tat Kwok, Ratna Sohanpal, Lucy Knight, Mike Slator, Gavin Jackson
The NIHR ARC North Thames’ Social Care Learning Network is a regional research network that seeks to improve the capacity and capability of social care researchers, social care practitioners, local authority staff and those working in social care from the voluntary, community and enterprise sector – to conduct, be involved with, and contribute to social care research.
Across London, post-holders have been shaping social care practice, strengthening collaborations, and discovering new research pathways. Their experiences, together with the reflections of their academic and practice supervisors, offer rich insight into what protected time, structured support, and cross‑sector collaboration can make possible.
In this article, the team talk more about how their two cohorts have found their experience, and give exiting details about how to register for their upcoming celebration event on 26th March.
Learning, building confidence and strengthening collaboration: Doris Mutsando’s journey
“It’s been a good learning experience, and has created conversations,” reflects Doris Mutsando. Doris’s role was split between The London Borough of Redbridge and the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre (CPEC) at the London School of Economics & Political Science, where she has contributed to research on the Three Conversations Model, Unpaid Care, and the Learning Disabilities Transition Project.
From the outset, the internship opened new doors for her,
The internship has presented a lot of learning opportunities… it enabled me to sit with the researchers, learn and understand the research process… and finally, it enabled me to network and build long‑lasting relationships.
Her supervisor, Raphael Wittenberg, highlights what Doris brought to the team:
“We benefitted a lot from her advice… She helped us a lot, and I’m really pleased that she will be keeping in touch with us.“
Doris is now exploring doctoral pathways, an ambition fuelled by exposure to training, including ARC North Thames Academy short courses and involvement in the Early Career Researcher Network.
A standout example of the new relationships formed through the Social Care Learning Network is her developing partnership with Michela Tinelli, whom she met through the network.
“We can work in the future together,” says Michela, who is collaborating with Doris on research exploring the economics of staff burnout. She describes their partnership as
“a beautiful collaboration with local authorities and academics.”
The Social Care Learning Network fellowship has been catalytic for Michela:
The fellowship has been brilliant… boosting what was already underway and unlocking discussions and opportunities I couldn’t have accessed without protected time. The fellowship allowed time away from core research to connect with people… to build research together, inform ongoing projects, and make broader contact with stakeholders in the social care space.
As her work on automating economic evidence generation progresses including a prototype platform being developed with Crisis she emphasises:
“Everything has been escalating very well… and we carry on, so there is more to do together even beyond the duration of the fellowship.”
Strengthening research skills and sector connections: Sally Nieman’s skill-building
For Sally, working with My Home Life England and City St George’s has offered vital professional growth.
“Opportunities to further develop and apply my research skills,” she says these skills were used to complete a scoping review on partnership working between care providers and wider systems which supported the production of a key report: Partnership Working Report - My Home Life England. Having recently finished her PhD, Sally highlights how the placement enabled her to disseminate research, publish blogs, present findings, and bring her ideas into practice, particularly around strengthening collaboration between social workers and care staff. As she puts it:
“The placement has allowed me to get involved in different areas of research… and to slowly build links and make new connections.
Her supervisors echo this sense of mutual benefit.
Exploring inequalities and co‑design: Stephen Bahooshy’s research
Like several of his peers, Stephen Bahooshy (London Borough of Camden) was one of the awardees to receive an internship extension to deepen his work. His project investigated the barriers LGBTQIA+ people face in accessing home care, a topic that bridges his commissioning expertise with a commitment to underserved groups. The protected time has been transformative:
“I wanted to do something related to my work, but that I wouldn’t normally get the chance to explore in day‑to‑day practice.
Stephen used participatory approaches to form reference groups of residents and professionals and aimed to produce service design recommendations and personal narratives that can be used across the sector.
A growing community of practice
Across the cohort, awardees described a powerful shared experience. Lucy reflects on the transformative nature of her placement at UCL:
“This opportunity has been fantastic… I have been shown so many different aspects of research that I didn’t even know existed… it’s something I never thought I’d do coming from adult social care.
She is now staying with UCL for at least another year; an example of how the research internship has led to sustainable capacity.
Gavin also highlights new funded opportunities unlocked through partnerships brought about through the Social Care Learning Network:
“The fellowship has been very rewarding and fruitful… we’ve been successful in applying for funding to work on a project evaluating our new AI companion tool.
Across all stories, the key takeaways are clear:
- Protected time creates space for curiosity, skill‑building and innovation
- Cross‑sector networks flourish when practice meets academia
- Supervisors value the lived expertise that practitioners bring into research
- Awardees gain confidence, skills, and new career pathways, often staying engaged with research long after the placement ends
- Communities of practice grow organically, shaping future collaborations and improving social care research capacity
This Social Care Learning Network is more than a training opportunity, it has been a catalyst for careers, partnerships, and sector‑wide impact. Please join us on Thursday March 26th to hear more from our awardees and their supervisors at our one-day celebration in London. Details of how to register are available here.