Meet the speaker
Laurence Taggart is a nurse and psychologist who recently joined Queens University Belfast as Professor of Implementation Science. Prior to this, he spent over 20 years at Ulster University, where he held the position of Professor of Intellectual Disability Research and led the Centre for Neurodevelopmental and Intellectual Disabilities.
His research primarily focuses on the health inequalities and inequities faced by individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in accessing healthcare services. He also has a keen interest in the development, testing, and implementation of interventions within complex healthcare systems.
From Ideas to Action: Making Change Stick in Social Work
Despite a growing body of evidence in intellectual disability research, a critical challenge persists: how can we effectively translate research findings into meaningful, sustainable changes across healthcare systems? Implementation science provides a systematic approach to addressing this gap, ensuring that evidence-based policies, interventions, and practices are not only disseminated but also successfully integrated into service delivery.
This talk will examine the role of implementation science in facilitating the adoption, embedding, and sustainability of evidence-informed policies, interventions, and practices within health and social care services. By drawing on established theories, methodologies, and frameworks (such as Normalisation Process Theory, the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research, and the Hexagon Model), we will explore how these approaches can enhance organisational readiness, promote stakeholder engagement, and address contextual barriers to change.
Through an applied lens, the talk will highlight the importance of co-production, interdisciplinary collaboration, and implementation strategies to ensure that research findings lead to tangible improvements in health and social care provision. By embedding implementation science principles into intellectual disability research, we can move beyond simply generating evidence to ensuring it underpins equitable access to health and social care policies, interventions, and services: thereby transforming lives.
About the Evidence into Practice Special Interest Group (EiPSIG)
EIPSIG is part of the European Social Work Research Association bringing together those interested in both the opportunities and the challenges of getting evidence into practice. It is a networking group that allows people from across Europe and further afield to share what they are doing. We meet annually at the ESWRA Conference for a face to face meeting and through out the year we host on line seminars to allow further discussion on relevant topics.
Email the Convener on EiPSIG@hscni.net for more details.
For information about ESWRA check out ESWRA’s website here.