Building research capacity in adult social care
ABOUT THE KENT RESEARCH PARTNERSHIP
The Kent Research Partnership (KRP) was a four-year collaborative project (2021–2025) co-led by the University of Kent and Kent County Council, and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) through the Health Services and Delivery Research (HS&DR) programme.
KRP was one of six capacity-building social care research partnerships funded across England. Its aim was to develop sustainable, Kent-based partnerships to support high-quality social care research on the issues that matter most to our region.
The partnership sought to improve the quality of social care by:
- Identifying research priorities to inform service change from the ground up
- Working with staff, users and carers to develop research ideas
- Sharing knowledge and resources through accessible training and workshops
- Co-producing and evaluating three high-quality projects led by social care colleagues
LEGACY AND IMPACT
The Kent Research Partnership concluded in September 2025. Over its four years, the partnership made significant progress in strengthening research capacity in social care across Kent. It built lasting networks between researchers, practitioners, and people with lived experience, and helped embed a culture of evidence-based practice and innovation.
This legacy website preserves the partnership’s achievements, outputs, and resources to ensure its learning and impact continue to benefit the sector.
