Submissions

Members of the UoA (Anand, Atkinson, Bornat, Brown, Chamberlayne, Clarke, Darr, Douglas, Komaromy, Lloyd, Mackintosh, Peace, Rose, Rolph, Stainton Rogers, Tucker, Walmsley) have been involved in the organisation of both national and international symposia and conferences over the period of assessment. Examples range from EU funded conferences on Biographical Methods and Professional Practice, through ESRC funded Risk Analysis conferences, to the 'Making Research Count' conferences in 1999 and 2000. Stainton-Rogers is chair of the organising committee for the 2nd International Conference on Critical Health Psychology, Aston August 2001. Members of the UOA are working with the National Family and Parenting Institute in developing a major conference on Parents and Children for 2002.

Advisors on policy and practice issues
Internationally, the UOA has contributed to the development of policy and practice in several countries. Mackintosh has served as an advisor on aspects of health and welfare policies in South Africa, Tanzania and the UK, as well as participating in UN policy development activities. Rose was the UK Expert to the Council of Europe Programme for Children (1998-2000) and was consultant to the EU /TACIS Project, Developing Social Services in Russia (1997-99). Brown is consultant to the Council of Europe on the prevention of abuse against disabled people. Himmelweit’s work on gender budgeting has also been taken up through the UNDP, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Italian Equal Opportunities Commission. Aldgate and Rose are currently advisors to the Maltese Government (supported by the British Council) on the new legislation for children, the structure of Maltese social services and training needs of Maltese social workers and the establishment of an Inspectorate. Stainton Rogers has acted as advisor to the Department of Social Welfare Singapore, and the Cayman Islands on child welfare issues 1998-9.

Davies’ work on professional regulation for the Royal College of Nursing in 2000 was incorporated into the Cabinet Office's Policy Review to inform the NHS plan. Aldgate was specialist advisor to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health 1997-8 in relation to children in the care system, which shaped the Care Standards and Leaving Care Acts (2000). Rose was a member of the Independent Committee of Enquiry into Women's Imprisonment (1998-2000). Himmelweit has chaired the Women’s Budget Group, advising the Treasury and other government departments. Brown was a member of the DH working group producing statutory guidance on multi-agency responsibilities in cases of abuse of all vulnerable adults. Thomas is Secretary to the RSS’s Official Statistics Section. OU staff have also advised: the Health Education Authority on the needs of black and ethnic minority communities (Douglas, 1999); the Runnymede Trust Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain (Lewis, 2000); the Chief Medical Officer's Working Party on Children and Young People with ME (Tucker, 2000). Lewis and McLaughlin submitted expert evidence to the McPherson Enquiry, strongly influencing the report's approach to racial stereotyping.

In the field of social care, individuals have authored high profile government publications, such as the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families (Department of Health 2000) and the Overview of the Department of Health's Children Act research The Children Act Now- Messages from Research (ministerial launch Spring 2001) They have also played major roles in developing national curricula for practice education. Aldgate designed a conceptual framework and curriculum to underpin the Government's Post Qualifying Award in Child Care. An OU team (Rose, Aldgate, Peace and Davies) was commissioned by CCETSW and the Department of Health to develop the curriculum for training Regulators and Inspectors (2000-2001).

Unit members have acted as advisors to government and national bodies on research and other grant funding matters. These include the DH Chief Scientist’s review of the Dartington Social Research Unit (Aldgate, 1998); the DH's Research Liaison Group (Aldgate); the Home Office (Hughes); the DH (Walmsley, Atkinson) and the National Assembly for Wales (Atkinson) in relation to learning disability. Internationally, Rose is an assessor for the EU Daphne Programme Projects. The advisory work of a number of individuals reinforces the theme in this submission of commitment to improving services. Links can be seen between the research submissions and the expertise of individuals who serve on various national and international committee. For example, Dimmock is Chair of the National Stepfamily Association and Board member of Parentline; Rose is a Trustee and Chair of the Management Committee of Homestart, and the Coram Family and advisor to NCH Action for Children and the Children's Society. OU staff also sit on Advisory Boards for 15 grant funded projects in other universities on a wide range of topics, including deliberative democracy, education action zones, health issues, inspection regimes, nursing, residential care, child welfare and older people.

International research collaborations
The reputation of the Unit's scholars has led to several noteworthy international research collaborations. Mackintosh received DFiD funding for a collaborative project on health care in Tanzania, and is actively involved in UNRISD policy development programmes. Douglas co-ordinated the EC funded project to examine the effectiveness of smoking interventions in schools, undertaken with colleagues in the Universities of Maastricht Holland, Oviedo, Spain and Manchester. Douglas is also the co-ordinator for the British Council Higher Education Link with the University of Zimbabwe for management and research on gender, health and health promotion. Stainton Rogers with British Council funding, is linked with universities in Slovakia and Spain on a project on young people's aspirations and has also been working with Hungarian researchers on narrative approaches to psychology. Under the Sostris programme, Chamberlayne completed work begun at UEL, organising 3 international workshops. Clarke has been part of an Anglo-German Foundation funded programme of studies on public service reform. Carabine has been a British Council funded visiting scholar in Finland. Rose and Aldgate are members of the Department of Health/ Norwegian Department of Family Welfare Intergovernmental Research Seminar Group. Aldgate's work on the overview of the Children Act has been paired through this seminar with similar work evaluating the Norwegian Children Act. Finally, Sigala received the prize for Best Paper by a Student at the International Association for Research in Economic Psychology (1999).