Sheffield SSCR was delighted to be able to use its research capacity funding in its first year to support the development of excellent researchers and the delivery of high-quality impactful research. Read below some of our award winners’ stories.
- Becky Field
As part of the Inclusive Dementia Research Priorities Project. I used this funding to pay a graphic designer to create a visual summary, from a written lay summary that summarised findings from a rapid evidence synthesis. The rapid evidence synthesis had been conducted to identify knowledge gaps in dementia and brain health research, relating to questions of concern and interest identified with members of a Somali community in a workshop. We needed a visual summary rather than a ‘traditional’ written lay summary to display within the Somali community centre, to help discussions about the findings with participants in workshops as part of the project and when sharing findings more widely. We used the visual summary in two further workshops to share what we had found out and what knowledge gaps appeared to be, which formed the basis of a priority setting exercise.
I had never worked with a graphic designer in this way. Nor had the two community research link workers employed on the project. They are members of the Somali community in Sheffield and have been involved in engaging the community in the project, including preparing suitable and accessible information. The process helped us all to better understand what the designer needed from us (a bullet point summary) and how visual summary of text can be much more engaging for some audiences. It helped us learn how you can’t include too much, and the importance of checking carefully what the designer has done so that what is presented is accurate. The experience has helped us all consider the importance of using visual methods to summarise and share information, particularly for members of this, and other communities who are not used to being involved in research, where literacy and language may be an issue for some people.
We will likely use this designer and similar visual methods in future projects. When constructing and costing bids I will be careful to scope out possibilities, costs and estimates for this kind of work with designers/illustrators, and negotiate how many rounds of changes can be made. The experience of using this approach has made me want to explore other visual methods that may be useful for future projects.
- Danica Darley
The SSCR Capacity Funding was used to support the development and delivery of a workshop at the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) UK Social Work Conference 2025 in Manchester, titled “Supporting Women in the Criminal Justice System: A Social Work Approach.” The funding enabled collaboration between academics, practitioners, and individuals with lived experience to design a session grounded in both research and real-world insight.
Specifically, the funding covered travel and conference costs for myself and the creation of interactive workshop materials including QR-coded access to live surveys and resources. It also supported the development of follow-up outputs, including a post-conference blog and the analysis of participant feedback to inform future knowledge exchange.
The session focused on three key practice themes: trauma-informed care, gendered practice, and multi-disciplinary team (MDT) collaboration. The panel format encouraged critical discussion among delegates, centering lived experience as expertise and enabling audience participation through interactive technology.
This opportunity significantly contributed to professional development by enhancing collaborative skills, interdisciplinary practice, and digital facilitation methods. Working with experienced social work practitioners and researchers, deepened my understanding of how to ethically integrate first-hand narratives into both policy and practice dialogue as well as into training curriculums.
For attendees, the session offered new tools for embedding trauma-informed and gender-responsive approaches into criminal justice social work. The workshop format encouraged peer learning and modelled participatory knowledge exchange. Attendees engaged with real-life case studies, evidence-based strategies, and practical examples of multi-agency working, which many cited as valuable for application in their own contexts.
The use of MindCloud and Otter provided an innovative mechanism to capture real-time audience engagement and to ensure voices, including those less confident in speaking aloud, were still represented in shaping the discussion. This format not only increased accessibility but also laid the foundation for a more inclusive and responsive feedback process, directly influencing follow-up outputs.
The workshop also strengthened networks across academic, professional, and lived experience communities, opening the door to future collaborative projects and joint publications. It showcased how capacity funding can be used for collective learning and sector-wide development.
The outcomes of this workshop will feed directly into several next steps. Firstly, a post-conference blog bringing together audience contributions, key discussions, and follow-up survey data will be published and hosted on the BASW special interest groups Criminal Justice pages. This will be accompanied by a downloadable resource pack for social work practitioners.
Secondly, insights from the session will inform a co-authored journal article currently in development, focused on gender-responsive, trauma-informed practice in criminal justice social work and the role of lived experience in shaping interdisciplinary care.
On a personal level, the project supported the acquisition of new facilitation and digital engagement skills. The use of QR-linked tools and cloud-based collaboration platforms can now be integrated into future teaching, research, and community engagement activities.
Methodologically, this experience has strengthened my confidence in designing interactive, ethically-grounded workshops that centre lived experience and cross-sector collaboration. This approach will underpin future public engagement activities and potentially contribute to SSCR-aligned work in 2026 and beyond.
- Katie Hullock
I used the SSCR Capacity Funding to participate in the Realist Synthesis Masterclass, delivered by the Centre for the Advancement of Realist Evaluation and Synthesis (CARES). As part of this training, I engaged in a case study focused on the unintended consequences of opioid tapering policies, which offered a hands-on opportunity to apply realist methodology, specifically the Context-Mechanism-Outcome (CMO) framework.
This experience helped me build the practical and theoretical skills needed to apply realist synthesis in my own area of research: health and social care for adults with learning disabilities. The funding enabled both structured learning and critical reflection, allowing me to explore how realist approaches can enhance our understanding of complex interventions in real-world settings.
The SSCR Capacity Funding has been instrumental in developing my ability to apply realist thinking in academic writing. Following the Masterclass, I have developed on previous work I did in incorporating the Context-Mechanism-Outcome (CMO) framework, specifically in several papers focused on adult social care. This approach has enhanced the analytical depth and conceptual clarity of my work.
The next step is to embed this learning into my academic writing, particularly through publications that explore how to theorise complexity in health and social care. The training deepened my understanding of realist concepts, especially that context is not a static backdrop but something dynamic and relational, influencing and being influenced by mechanisms and outcomes over time. This has shifted how I approach theory-building in my papers, enabling me to capture subtleties. I believe that this enhanced conceptual clarity will be reflected in current and forthcoming publications, supporting a richer, more grounded realist contribution. While I’m not pursuing a grant or new method, the ability to write more thoughtfully about these issues is a meaningful development in my research practice, and in developing my skills within realist methodologies.
- Suzanne Ablard
I delivered a presentation at the Health Services Research UK conference titled: “A qualitative study to understand the experiences of health professionals implementing and operating adult virtual wards across South Yorkshire, United Kingdom”.
Moving hospital-based care into the community, especially into people’s homes, is a key government priority. Virtual wards (also known as hospital at home) are a central part of this approach. The primary objectives of virtual wards are twofold: (1) to prevent hospital admissions (step-up care) and (2) to facilitate early discharge from hospital (step-down care). In virtual wards patients who would otherwise have been in hospital are now provided with hospital-level monitoring and treatment in their own home, for a limited time (up to 14 days). Patients are supported by a specialist multidisciplinary team of health professionals either face to face or remotely using remote monitoring technologies.
Our research highlighted some of the challenges and successes of the delivery of this model of care, focused on frailty and respiratory. One key finding was that health professionals felt virtual wards enabled them to provide more holistic care (particularly for frailty) by addressing patient’s broader social needs in addition to their acute health needs, something which they felt was harder to achieve in hospital settings.
Sharing the findings from this project sparked valuable discussions about the transformative potential of virtual wards in community-based healthcare delivery.
I really enjoyed attending the Health Services Research UK conference. It provided a valuable opportunity to connect with other researchers conducting similar research. As a result, I established new connections that I plan to follow up on, potentially leading to future collaborations. It was especially rewarding to meet face-to-face with colleagues I had previously only interacted with online. As an early career researcher, attending this conference was an invaluable opportunity to deepen my understanding of the current work being done in health services research. and social care.
We are currently preparing the final report based on our research, which will be shared with the South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) to support their ongoing implementation of virtual wards. Following this, we plan to develop papers for publication. Additionally, this work will contribute to a larger NIHR Health Services and Delivery Research (HS&DR) grant application, which we intend to submit imminently.
