Engaging with Scottish Local Authorities Scheme
The jointly funded SFC/LARCI/ESRC ‘Engaging with Scottish Local Authorities’
scheme aimed to promote knowledge exchange between universities and local authorities
in Scotland, and to develop research-informed evidence relating to the needs and
practices of local governments. The projects detailed below, ranging from caring
for people with dementia, to cutting carbon emissions, have been undertaken as part
of this scheme.
For more information go to
www.st-andrews.ac.uk/engage
Co-ordinating Service Provision and Improving Life Chances for Children in Severe
Poverty: A knowledge exchange programme
Child poverty is something that every council aims to reduce and minimise. This
project, linking the University of Strathclyde with West Dunbartonshire Council,
Glasgow City Council and Save the Children-Scotland, will provide a long-term link
between researchers and practitioners with the aim of sharing knowledge and expertise
in tackling child poverty. Through the exchange of knowledge, the local authorities
should better be able to assess and improve life chances and tackle inequalities.
For more information go to
www.st-andrews.ac.uk/engage/projects/childpoverty
Enhancing Local Authorities' Community Engagement: Co-designing and prototyping
strategies for carbon emission reduction
Reducing carbon emissions is a huge task, particularly in Scotland where the
Government has set the tough target of an 80% reduction by 2050. This project between
the University of St Andrews, the University of Dundee and Fife Council aims to
utilise academic research by developing realistic strategies local authorities can
adopt when tackling climate change and reducing their carbon emissions.
For more information go to
www.st-andrews.ac.uk/engage/projects/communitycarbonemissions
Building Capacity for Evidence-informed Practice in Rural and Remote Island
Social Service Delivery
Dementia is an ever growing problem for local authorities to deal with. This
project will generate evidence about designing sustainable, high quality care at
home for people with dementia in remote locations. The project (organised with the
UHI Millennium Institute, the Scottish Agricultural College, Orkney Islands Council
and Scottish Borders Council) has been designed to share knowledge between different
organisations, and develop plans for improvement.
For more information go to
www.st-andrews.ac.uk/engage/projects/dementiacare
Engaging with Involuntary Service Users in Social Work
Scottish policy highlights the need for increased participation of social work
users in shaping services. This project between the University of Edinburgh and
a number of local councils aims to improve the capacity of local authorities to
engage involuntary service users in social work. This will be done by highlighting
current relevant research on user involvement, developing effective networks for
knowledge exchange, and increasing the skills and capacity of local authority staff
to engage in small-scale research.
For more information go to
www.st-andrews.ac.uk/engage/projects/socialwork
Building Safer Communities
This project led by the University of Glasgow aims to provide a summary of the
existing evidence around the planning of community safety, split into two themes:
effective community safety interventions, and the delivery of community safety.
From this, four local authority community safety practitioners will undertake evaluations
of their current practice, with a view to improving their current processes.
For more information go to
www.st-andrews.ac.uk/engage/projects/safercommunities
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