A collaboration between Dr Barry Coughlan from the University of Cambridge and the National Children’s Bureau has won a prestigious award in the field of research impact and engagement for a groundbreaking collaborative project in children’s social care.
The University of Cambridge’s Vice Chancellor’s Awards for Research Impact and Engagement, established in 2016, recognise outstanding achievement, innovation and creativity in translating research into ambitious and transformational economic, social and cultural engagement and impact.
The collaboration between Dr Barry Coughlan and NCB was joint winner in the Early Career Researcher category. Dr Coughlan and NCB have worked together on projects addressing the experiences and mental health needs of children and families with social work involvement, including attention to important issues of suicidal distress and self-harm.
The collaboration has involved NCB facilitating dialogue with policymakers, including the Department for Education and the Ministry of Justice, as well as supporting experts-by-experience to present directly to stakeholders including the Health Minister, senior officials at HM Treasury, the Director General of the Department for Education, and the Children’s Commissioner for England.
For example in 2023, NCB, alongside the University of Cambridge and the University of Kent hosted an event bringing together children and young people, artists and writers, charity colleagues, leading academics, and government officials to consider challenges in the integration of health and social care for children. One third of the 145 attendees at event were experts-by-experience in children’s social care and more than 14,000 people engaged with the event through social media.
The research and public engagement work from this collaboration is already shaping national policy. One example of this is the proposal for a unique identifier to ensure efficiency and accuracy of data sharing across children’s health, social care and education services, currently under consideration by the government.
For our collaboration with Dr Barry Coughlan to win such a prestigious award is a huge honour for NCB. We greatly appreciate this recognition of the passion and dedication of our policy, communications and research teams who have used academic research underpinned by lived experience to influence government and create positive and lasting change that ensures more children are able to grow up safe, secure and supported. The impact of this work at the highest levels of Government has led us to reshape and extend our model for engaging with academics, helping ensure closer alignment between policy development and research on issues affecting children, young people and families.
Phil Anderson
Strategic Director for External Affairs at NCB
I am deeply honoured to be win the VC award for work done in collaboration with the National Children's Bureau. This award reflects the passion and commitment we share in using academic research, and listening to lived experiences, so as to contribute to positive change for young people and their families.
Dr Barry Coughlan
British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge