ESRC Research, Social Work and Social Care

This document reports a review, commissioned by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) in late 2003, of the actual and potential coverage of social work and social care research within Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) programmes, and of the implications of that review for social work and social care research in the UK. The review was conducted through a desk review of ESRC public domain documents, an electronic consultation of the social work research community, an e-mail questionnaire to grant holders on two recent ESRC programmes, a workshop, and key informant interviews with senior ESRC staff and others. The report needs to be read in the context of the major and fast-moving changes that are taking place within the ESRC. These changes have several dimensions and involve changes in ESRC strategies and structure, the emergence of a concern with 'discipline health' and the recognition within the ESRC that there is a need for capacity building among some of the smaller disciplines.