Early Career Researcher 2023
Dr Barry Coughlan, British Academy Fellow, Clinical Medicine, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, School of Clinical Medicine
The Vice-Chancellor's Awards
for Research Impact and Engagement
About the researcher
Dr Barry Coughlan is a psychology graduate with an interest in child development, mental health, and child welfare assessments. Before joining the Unit in 2017 to undertake doctoral research, Barry was an assistant psychologist in the Health Service Executive in Ireland working in child and adolescent primary care and early intervention.
Barry’s doctoral research explored social and neurodevelopmental assessment practices. Barry’s PhD, which was funded by the NIHR School for Primary Care Research, used multiple methods, including literature reviews, qualitative interviews, and quantitative analysis of electronic healthcare records to provide an account of these assessment practices.
The Vice-Chancellor's Awards
for Research Impact and Engagement
About the researcher
Dr Barry Coughlan is a psychology graduate with an interest in child development, mental health, and child welfare assessments. Before joining the Unit in 2017 to undertake doctoral research, Barry was an assistant psychologist in the Health Service Executive in Ireland working in child and adolescent primary care and early intervention.
Barry’s doctoral research explored social and neurodevelopmental assessment practices. Barry’s PhD, which was funded by the NIHR School for Primary Care Research, used multiple methods, including literature reviews, qualitative interviews, and quantitative analysis of electronic healthcare records to provide an account of these assessment practices.
The work of Coughlan, Duschinsky and their research group is shaped at every stage by the priorities of policy-makers, clinicians and people with lived experience. Fed by this extensive and multi-layered programme of engagement, their research represents nothing less than a transformation in the quality and relevance of research evidence for our sector
David Graham (Care Leavers Association), Luke Geoghegan (British Association of Social Workers) and Dustin Hutchinson (National Children's Bureau)
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
What is the research?
Dr Coughlan’s research addresses the experiences and mental health needs of a profoundly underserved and excluded population: children and families with social work involvement.
People with lived experience of children’s social care have shaped the research and enabled Dr Coughlan to attend to critical issues, including suicide and self-harm following abuse or neglect.
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
A close collaboration with the National Children’s Bureau has been decisive in facilitating dialogue with policy-makers, including the Department for Education and Ministry for Justice. The research is already shaping national policy, for instance the proposal for a unique identifier to help coordinate children’s health, social care and education.
Our collaborative research and engagement activities helped underpin work by the National Children's Bureau to coordinate a coalition of over 100 children's organisations to argue for greater support for children and families in the autumn 2022 spending review. This campaigning prompted meetings with HM Treasury; in the spending review, an extra £300 million per year was pledged for supporting children and families, plus additional funding for family hubs.
One of the major personal contributions of Dr Coughlan's work has been his truly pioneering work using administrative data to appraise mental health provision for young people with social care involvement.
David Graham (Care Leavers Association), Luke Geoghegan (British Association of Social Workers) and Dustin Hutchinson (National Children's Bureau)
Built with Shorthand