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Building our research community

To do this we have formed the ‘Building a Research Community’ network group.

Click here to view Term of Reference.

This group was established in 2020 as part of the review of the first Social Work and Social Care Continuous Improvement Research and Evidence Strategy 2015-2020.

Since then it has grown into a vibrant network and in 2023 became part of the Social Care Council’s strategic research agenda.

The Social Care Council continues to recognise the group’s value and is committed to ensuring that it remains a valuable component of the future research and evidence landscape for the social work and social care workforce in Northern Ireland.

The aim of the group is to:

Maintain a forum for engagement, collaboration, collation and exchange of ideas and good practice.
Support accessible communications about the emerging research agenda and its implications for organisations, service users and carers.
Play a lead role connecting the work of the regional strategic and the local research agendas including offering advice about infrastructure and capacity.

The group meets three times during the year.


If you are interested in building networks with other researchers and academics, or if you want to find out more about the research, evidence and innovation activity that is going on in Northern Ireland, contact us at: swresearchsistrategy@hscni.net.

System upgrade - Notice of May downtime

Due to a planned system upgrade, the Social Care Council website and Learning Zone will be offline intermittently for a period of time on the morning of Tuesday, 20 May 2025. We apologise for any inconvenience. You will still be able to access online services using My Portal.