The Greater Manchester Social Work Academy works closely with their university partners in developing research opportunities for social workers across Greater Manchester. Whether you are interested in developing your skills, wish to pursue a PHD or want to participate in research projects, we have a range of resources to support you.
Greater Manchester Social Work Academy works in partnership with the (NIHR) National Institute for Health (social care) Research.
The NIHR provide a range of social work research career opportunities available to social work practitioners, see below
The Local Authority Academic Fellowship Programme, are designed to strength the capacity for local authorities to generate and support health and social care research by offering research training awards to the practitioner that work with them. For further information regarding these programme please see link NIHR Local Authority Academic Fellowship Programme and Associated Opportunities | NIHR
Testimonial from Social Worker Charlotte Ashworth from Manchester City Council and a member of the fellowship scheme
“I think that there is such huge potential to develop practitioner-academics with children’s social work. Therefore, is an opportunity to lead research relevant to practice with the local authority and in turn influence social work policies and practice.” – Charlotte Ashworth
To find out more about Charlotte journey on the NIHR Prep Doctoral Local Authority Fellowship (PLAF) see link here: Supporting pre-doctoral research training in local authority settings | NIHR
The Local Authority Academic Fellowship Programme, are designed to strength the capacity for local authorities to generate and support health and social care research by offering research training awards to the practitioner that work with them. For further information regarding these programme please see link NIHR Local Authority Academic Fellowship Programme and Associated Opportunities | NIHR
Testimonial from Social Worker Charlotte Ashworth from Manchester City Council and a member of the fellowship scheme
“I think that there is such huge potential to develop practitioner-academics with children’s social work. Therefore, is an opportunity to lead research relevant to practice with the local authority and in turn influence social work policies and practice.” – Charlotte Ashworth
To find out more about Charlotte journey on the NIHR Prep Doctoral Local Authority Fellowship (PLAF) see link here: Supporting pre-doctoral research training in local authority settings | NIHR
The Pre-doctoral Local Authority Fellowship scheme, supporting early researcher careers employed within local authorities to become competitive applicants for fully funded PhD study (a doctoral fellowship).
The Pre-doctoral Local Authority Fellowship scheme, supporting early researcher careers employed within local authorities to become competitive applicants for fully funded PhD study (a doctoral fellowship).
The Advanced Local Authority Fellowship scheme, supporting doctorate holders employed with Local Authority settings to develop careers which combine research with practice.
See link for further details:
The NIHR ARC-GM is hosted by Manchester University NHS Foundation trust as part if the Health Innovation Manchester, in collaboration with the University of Manchester and other Greater Manchester Universities.
Working closely with Greater Manchester health and social care/ work partner agencies, the research activity is focussed on finding and evaluating new and better ways of preventing illness and delivering care.
For further information on arc see video:
This is research project which has been designed through a partnership which includes: NIHR – School for Social Care Research (Manchester), the Greater Manchester (GM) Health and Social Care Partnership, the Greater Manchester Social Work Academy (GMSWA), NIHR ARC- Greater Manchester, the Thomas Ashton Institute, Social Work in University of Manchester and regional service user and carer partners.
The main aim of this study is to explore and understand the medium- and long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on practitioners and organisations providing social work and social care to adults in Greater Manchester at the levels of:
1) Strategic and organisational planning
2) Operational delivery
3) Individual workforce resilience
As part the Secure Study, surveys now open for social care/ work practitioners on the phase focussed on: Current Challenges; Adult Social Care Workforce study.
For further information on this project please go to SECURE: Workforce responses to COVID-19 | NIHR SSCR
The Greater Manchester Social Work Academy are funding a local project following on the recommendation of the SWINT project (British Academy: Social Work and Interpreters), to address some the highlighted issues locally. This project is aimed of improving the knowledge, skills and values base for social workers and interpreters to more effectively together for the benefit from the people and families with limited English. Sara Pollock senior Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University is leading on this research project alongside workforce colleagues from the GMSWA Workforce Group – responsible for development social worker continuous professional development.
Background:
Use of Interpreters in Social Care is commonly used at the point of assessment or intervention to facilitate communication, to capture the persons wishes, experiences and feelings. Health and Social Care practitioners are advised against using family/ friends to interpret to ensure impartiality of the information being provided and are steered against using platforms such Google- Translate due to lack of quality assurance of the quality of the translations.
Sara Pollock’s initial research from the sample of social work prequalifying programmes, found none included any course content relating to interpreters or working across language barriers, suggesting that the workforce is being under prepared to work in this way.
This means that, of the 3,360 social workers who qualified in 2020 in England (Skills for Care, 2022) and the thousands who have graduated since, none are likely to have undertaken any learning about how to communicate with families via interpreters.
A review of ten North West local authority workforce development provisions drew a similar conclusion. Although some generic, online resources were used to inform practitioners about ethnicity and discrimination, there was limited, inconsistent opportunity for qualified social workers to develop their skills to work with individuals and families via an interpreter.
GMSWA:
Our teaching partnership is funding a training programme for Greater Manchester social workers: Working Effectively with Interpreters Training.
Sara Pollock will complete an evaluation of the training from the participants on the how this training has improved their practice. Sara will present and share her research findings with GMSWA partners and nationally will work to further develop an national strategy.
Training dates now available at:
How is racism understood in literature about the experiences of black and minority ethnic social work students in Britain? A Conceptual review.
Dr Dharman Jeyasingham and Dr Julie Morton (Social Work Education, 38 (5), pp 563-575)
Children’s social workers agile working practice and experiences beyond the office Dr Dharman Jeyasingham, The British Journal of Social Work, Volume 49, Issue 3, April 2019, Pages 559-576, www.doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcy077
Not Ageing Out of Violence? Older Mens Biographical Narratives of Their Abuse and Violence in Intimate Relationships With Female Partners.Bellamy, C. Struthers, M and Green, L (2023) Cited in Bows, H. (ed) Not Your Usual Suspect..
Exploring health and social care professional initial perceptions of caring for trans patients. Kirlew MI, Lord H, Weber J (2020) Exploring health and social care professionals’ initial perceptions of caring for trans patients. Nursing Standard. doi: 10.7748/ns.2020.e11383
Perspectives of Child and Family Social Workers Working in England - this article reports a portion of the findings from a 5-year longitudinal study on child and family social work, commissioned by the Department for Education. Sarah PollockORCID Icon,Susan McCaughan &Helen Scholar
Dr Dharman Jeyasingham and Dr Julie Morton (Social Work Education, 38 (5), pp 563-575)
Abstract
This article presents findings from a study which explored the everyday ways race works on social work programmes in England. The study focused on how race was spoken about and conceptualised, how people were categorised and ordered according to race and the social interactions where race was understood by participants to be significant. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight social work lecturers and nineteen black social work students at two universities in England, to explore the following topics: classroom-based and practice learning, assessment and feedback, interactions between students and between students and educators, and university and practice agency cultures. Data were analysed using thematic analysis and the following themes identified: the routine interpellation of black students and communities in terms of absolute cultural differences, black students’ everyday experiences of marginalisation, hostility and othering, and the racialisation of black students in judgements made about their academic and practice performance. The article concludes that social work education must engage more deeply with contemporary theorisations of race and culture, and that social work educators need a reflexive understanding of how notions such as diversity, equality and universal academic standards are put into practice in ways that marginalise and devalue black students.
Link to Research Article:
https://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/64217/?template=banner
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Dr Dharman Jeyasingham, The British Journal of Social Work, Volume 49, Issue 3, April 2019, Pages 559-576, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcy077
Abstract
Agile working (flexibility around practitioners’ roles and the location and time of work) is increasingly common across local authority social work in the UK but there is little evidence about the practices it entails, with the small amount of existing research concerned largely with its impact on office environments. This article presents findings from a qualitative exploratory study of eleven social workers’ practices and experiences when engaged in agile working away from office spaces. Data were generated through practitioner diaries, photographs elicited from practitioners and semi-structured interviews, and were analysed using a grounded theory approach. The study found practitioners engaged in agile working in a wide range of domestic, leisure and formal work environments across the public–private continuum. This gave them superficial control over how they worked, in particular the freedom to work in solitude and establish distance between themselves and perceived demands from service users and other practitioners. However, agile working also involved a wider range of material practices and affective experiences for practitioners. These changes provoke questions about data security, increased visibility and unanticipated encounters in public spaces, and the shifting relationship between information-management work and elements of practice involving face-to-face interaction with others.
Link to Research Article: Seeking Solitude and Distance from Others: Children’s Social Workers’ Agile Working Practices and Experiences beyond the Office | The British Journal of Social Work | Oxford Academic (oup.com)
Dr Dharman Jeyasingham of University of Manchester was the lead the ESRC funded project “Becoming agile in local authority children’s safeguarding social work services: examining organisational and individual change in public sector social work”. Details on this project can be found here: GtR (ukri.org)
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Bellamy, C. Struthers, M and Green, L (2023) Cited in Bows, H. (ed) Not Your Usual Suspect: Older Offenders of Violence (Feminist Developments in Violence and Abuse), Emerald Publishing limited, Bingley, pp. 105-119 https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80071-887-620231008
Abstract
Drawing on empirical research which incorporated biographical interviews with two older male perpetrators, this chapter develops theoretical conceptualisations of the histories, experiences and motives of these men. Four key areas are highlighted, which will be subject to closer scrutiny in relation to extant literature: (i) gender, particularly notions of masculinity, power and entitlement; (ii) attitudes relating to the use of violence both within intimate relationships and generally (iii) critical junctures in the life course which triggered attempts to desist; and (iv) an exploration of maturation and completion of treatment programmes in relation to their use of violence, future risks and efforts towards desistance.
Link to Research Article: Not Ageing Out of Violence? Older Men's Biographical Narratives of Their Abuse and Violence in Intimate Relationships With Female Partners | Emerald Insight
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Kirlew MI, Lord H, Weber J (2020) Exploring health and social care professionals’ initial perceptions of caring for trans patients. Nursing Standard. doi: 10.7748/ns.2020.e11383
Link to Research Article Resource: https://journals.rcni.com/nursing-standard/evidence-and-practice/exploring-health-and-social-care-professionals-initial-perceptions-of-caring-for-trans-patients-ns.2020.e11383/abs
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