Research Centre

The NCB Research Centre undertakes high quality research to inform policy and practice across the children's sector.

Our research portfolio spans the policy and practice development work of NCB. Our main research areas include early years; social care; education, health and well-being; disability and Special Educational Needs; play and positive activities; and youth justice. We have researchers in London and Northern Ireland.

Our unique offer lies in:  

• expertise involving children and young people in research in a range of roles
• extensive experience of evaluating children and young people's services across all sectors
• ability to work from the perspective of the 'whole child'
• proximity to an unrivalled range of NCB policy and practice experts
• access, through NCB's membership and networks, to thousands of people who work with and for children and young people.

A key theme of our work is the active involvement of children and young people in research. We have extensive expertise in engaging children and young people in research as participants and supporting their active involvement in the planning, process and dissemination of research.

We design and carry out large-scale and small-scale studies using a range of methods. We have expertise in qualitative and quantitative research, evaluation and literature reviews. Our focus is on research outputs that are accessible to a range of audiences, and can inform key decisions regarding policy and practice .

One of the key aims of NCB is to work from an evidence-based and child-centred perspective. We support this aim by undertaking high quality and rigorous research. Download our Quality Plan.

If you have been asked to take part in one of our research projects, please download our information leaflet for participants.

For more information about our work or to get in touch with a member of the department, please contact us:

NCB Research Centre
8 Wakley Street
London EC1V 7QE

Tel: 020 7843 6074
Email: research@ncb.org.uk

The second edition of our biannual newsletter is available to download which gives more information about our recent projects and priorities. You can also download our brochure.