One of the main objectives of the Leicestershire HDRC programme is to increase research skills across Leicestershire County Council and help staff use evidence to support day to day work and activities.
To support this aim, during 2025 we will be running four Research to Reality training sessions and our annual conference. We’re starting our first year of the programme with a deeper look at using published research. Three of our training sessions will cover:
- Accessing research
- Reading a research paper
- Applying research in practice
Followed by a workshop to introduce how we design new (empirical) research that will cover different research methods.
These sessions were designed based on the findings from our surveys, where staff told us the topics they would like to learn more about. Our annual research skills conference in November 2025 will pick up other requested topics too.
In addition, there will also be opportunities available for staff to get involved in formal research development, ranging from funded Master’s degrees, PhDs, and other academic opportunities such as Fellowships.
Opportunities will be promoted via the HDRC newsletter and our website, or you can email hdrc@leics.gov.uk for further details.
We are also developing other supporting activities, such as Journal Clubs, where colleagues can come together to discuss recent scientific articles and their implications locally. For more information, please email hdrc@leics.gov.uk.