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The Research Assessment Exercise was introduced in 1986 to measure research quality and to determine the allocation of higher education funding. The renamed Research Excellence Framework (REF) has become an important barometer of research capacity and calibre across academic disciplines in UK universities. Based on the expert insights of REF sub-panel members for Unit of Assessment 20 (UOA20), Social Work and Social Policy, this article contributes to understanding of the current state of UK social work research. It documents the process of research quality assessment and reports on the current social work research landscape, including impact. Given its growing vigour, increased engagement with theory and conceptual frameworks, policy and practice and its methodological diversity, it is evident that social work research has achieved considerable consolidation and growth in its activity and knowledge base. Whilst Russell Group and older universities cluster at the top of the REF rankings, this cannot be taken for granted as some newer institutions performed well in REF2021. The article argues that the discipline's embeddedness in interdisciplinary research, its quest for social justice and its applied nature align well with the REF framework where interdisciplinarity, equality, diversity and inclusion and impact constitute core principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study examines concerns with youth and risk in the British context, exploring some of the social and psychological theory bases whereby youth is constructed as a risky business and observes patterns and dynamics of young people's risk taking. The discussion highlights the need for critically reflective social work to understand the complex interplay of identity and agency, structure, culture and context that underpins young people's risk taking.

Very few UK studies make use of longitudinal general population data to explore social service contact for children and young people. Those that do only look at specific interventions such as care placements. This paper seeks to address this gap by asking to what extent do structural, neighbourhood, familial and individual characteristics predict social service contact. We provide an empirical answer by analysing the Longitudinal Survey of Young People in England, which includes data on social service contact in connection with young people's behaviour. Our findings indicate that social class, gender, ethnicity, step-family status and special education needs are all significant predictors of social service contact. Difficult parent-child relationships, frequent arguments and parents' lack of engagement with school meetings also matter, as does young people's own risk-taking behaviour. We conclude with a discussion of the limitation of the data for social work research and the implications of the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contemporary knowledge societies, scientific research has been emphasised as a key component of effective and accountable service provision. This paper examines commonalities and distinctions between two discourses of research utilisation: 'evidence-based practice' (EBP) and 'knowledge production/utilisation' (KPU)--the former more prominent in informing the social work canon, the latter with some potential to do so. Specifically, it considers how and where these discourses are now com ing together, through a focus on 'knowledge mobilisation', 'implementation' and 'innovation', and a shared emphasis on the role of organisations in bridging the gap between research and action. It hopes to contri bute to the movement towards greater research use in social work and enhance understanding of the mechanisms by which research is connected to action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amidst calls for a ‘step change’ in the quality of social work and social care research come contrasting claims for inter-disciplinarity on the one hand and disciplinarity on the other. Drawing on the findings of a UK-based consultation, this paper situates the challenges of research capacity development in contexts of wider preoccupations with research impact and inter-disciplinarity, and the problematic distinction between social work as a research discipline and social care as a discipline-transgressing research field. Arguing that both disciplinarity and inter-disciplinarity are best examined as epistemic and social phenomena, both are considered in terms of claims to knowledge, developmental trajectories, forms of social organisation and cultural practice, and contributions to contemporary knowledge markets. This analytic framework is used to scrutinise the diverse understandings of disciplinarity and inter-disciplinarity, along with their opportunities and threats, brought by UK social work academics and cognate discipline representatives to the challenges of research capacity development. Contrasts and commonalities with wider contexts are highlighted. The argument concludes that disciplinarity and inter-disciplinarity are co-dependent. Strategies for building social work and social care research excellence and impact will best succeed if they pay heed both to distinctive disciplinary needs and to enhancing cross-fertilisation, integration and collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An introduction to the journal is presented in which the editor discusses the concept of risk in social work, the sociological interest in medicine and social work, and the changes needed to improve social work.