ExChange Wales brings leading researchers together with practitioners and service users to share expertise, research evidence and care experiences.
Through our conferences, workshops, lectures and seminars, ExChange provides free, high-quality training to support the ongoing development of social care professionals across Wales. Attracting leading national speakers, together we learn and advise on research, impacting both policy and practice. Our events and resources enrich skills while foregrounding the lived experience of care-experienced people.
We have a range of ways that you can work with ExChange. If you wish to host an ExChange workshop, webinar, podcast or blog, simply contact us.
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Webinar: Championing a research culture within Adult Social Care *NEW DATE*
Championing a research culture within Adult Social Care – How are we making robust decisions without calling upon the research base? Research enriched practice has always been a gold standard within social care. However, making it a natural part of practice within busy frontline local authority teams dealing with complex and fluid situations has always been a challenge. In this webinar Liza Turton and Rachel Scourfield who are both Consultant Social Workers for Neath and Port Talbot will share how they are using their NIHR Practice based Research Leaders Award to create a model that supports frontline staff, policy development and strategic plans.
ZOOM, Online
12:00
- 08/05/2024
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Webinar: Improving practice with fathers in children’s services
Improving practice with fathers in children’s services Presenter: Jonathan Scourfield, Professor of Social Work, CASCADE, Cardiff University 15th April 2024 12 - 1pm There is a long-standing and ongoing problem of practice in children’s services focusing primarily on mothers and failing to properly engage fathers (the term used here in an inclusive sense). This works against the interests of women, men and children. The causes of the problem are complex. The presenter first studied it when doing his PhD in the late 1990s and more recent evidence would suggest there has been little change since then. This webinar will introduce the issue and then describe research-based training and organisation development designed to improve the situation. ISAFE (Improving Safeguarding through Audited Father-Engagement) was developed by The Fatherhood Institute and CASCADE at Cardiff University. Its effectiveness is currently being tested in a randomised controlled trial funded by Foundations, the national What Works Centre for children and families. ISAFE is based on previous work by the two organisations: training developed by the presenter and colleagues in Cardiff and a multi-layered father-engagement intervention designed and implemented by the Fatherhood Institute, which the presenter evaluated. Also, the skills training element introduces motivational interviewing, the use of which in children’s services has been pioneered by CASCADE academics.
Online, ZOOM
12:00
- 15/04/2024
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CARE Seminar: 'Promoting carers wellbeing: current research and future directions'.
Research studies about carers’ wellbeing over the last decade have highlighted the impact of caregiving on informal carers’ financial, physical and mental health. In this seminar hosted by the Centre for Adult Social Care Research (CARE) at Cardiff University we focus on the implications for carers’ social wellbeing and present some of the latest research from the UK and Australia about the social welfare of carers. Join us for this free in-person seminar.
Event Space, sbarc|spark, Maindy Road, Cardiff, CF24 4HQ
11:00
- 21/05/2024
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Webinar: Enabling talk and reframing messages: Working creatively and collaboratively to create impact
This presentation explores how creative and collaborative approaches can be drawn on as techniques of data production and tools of dissemination and impact. The focus of the presentation is a qualitative study into the educational experiences and aspirations of care experienced children and young people in Wales (n=67). The project worked with care experienced peer researchers and drew on visual, creative, and participatory techniques to explore participants experiences of education and, importantly, their opinions on what could be done to improve it. This multimodal approach allowed space for participants to think through their subjective, mundane, but important, experiences that operate alongside, and interact with, more structural challenges. Alongside a report, book and journal articles, a range of films, magazines, artwork, and music outputs were developed, as well as training workshops and a website, to ensure that the project recommendations could reach wide and diverse audiences. This presentation suggests that the perspectives of children and young people need to be given a platform to inform policy and practice. Accordingly, researchers need to be creative in their approaches to both fieldwork and dissemination; harnessing the impact of the arts to make positive changes in the everyday lives of children and young people.
Online, ZOOM
13:00
- 09/04/2024
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Webinar: Working with stakeholders to enhance responses to child criminal exploitation
This session will provide an overview of our work on child criminal exploitation in Wales. It will begin with a brief introduction about how CASCADE became involved in this research and the importance of working with stakeholders from the research design stage to the co-production of research outputs. Presenter: Dr Nina Maxwell The session will consider how the research team engaged with young people, parents and professionals to ensure the research added value to existing practice. The session will finish with a critical overview of the impact of this research portfolio on policy and service provision with reference to some of the co-produced outputs.
Online, ZOOM
12:00
- 22/04/2024
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Webinar: 'The Enlightened Social Worker: An Introduction to Rights Focused Practice' - Book Launch
Professor Donald Forrester 'The Enlightened Social Worker' Book Launch In this webinar, Donald Forrester introduces his new book, which positions human rights as central social work practice.
Online, ZOOM
13:00
- 10/04/2024
Check out our latest conference.
Reframing Adoption Conference
Welcome to our ExChange conference series entitled Reframing Adoption running from May- June 2023. We aim to shine a light on the often forgotten area of adoption and highlight some of the most recent and important research and development in…
