Link Officers act as the vital bridge between Research in Practice and our Partner network. Every year, we recognise their hard work and celebrate their achievements. Nominations for our Link Officer Awards are now open.
Link Officers play a key role in championing evidence-informed practice and ensuring their organisations get maximum benefit from the Research in Practice resources. In recognition of their significant efforts, we are inviting you to nominate your Link Officer for an award.
We would love to hear how your Link Officer has encouraged the use of Research in Practice resources to support your practice, and that of others. Nominations for previous winners have included some notable examples of the ways in which Link Officers have worked tirelessly to support excellent practice across their organisations.
Consider how your Link Officer:
- Gets the right resources to the right people at the right time so they can use them effectively.
- Targets different group of staff and managers to ensure everyone can access topics and resources relevant to them.
- Builds links between research and organisational policy and practice.
- Supports a learning culture, making use of evidence and peer reflection.
- Supports you and colleagues to develop skills and expertise in utilising the resources.
- Provides positive feedback and 'rewards' to encourage use of the resources.
- Focuses on, and measures, the impact of using the resources in practice and the outcomes for children, young people, adults and carers.
Embedding a learning culture
Research in Practice membership offers access to resources and support designed to embed evidence-informed practice within your organisation. However, research shows that passive dissemination of evidence alone isn’t effective, we must do more than just pass it on. It's important to combine a range of mechanisms to embed a learning culture within an organisation – dissemination, interaction, facilitation, social influence, incentives and reinforcement.
Link Officers in our Partner organisations tap into these mechanisms in a number of different ways, including:
- Raising awareness of what is available through Research in Practice membership and how to access it.
- Identifying and promoting opportunities for people to use resources or attend events.
- Supporting colleagues to embed evidence within part of day-to-day activities, facilitating people to engage and participate.
- Modelling and encouraging being evidence-informed, highlighting where managers and peers utilise evidence so it is visible, and people can be persuaded of its benefits.
Nominate your Link Officer
Nominations for our annual Link Officer Awards are now open.
Winners will be announced at our hybrid Link Officers' Annual Meeting, taking place on 25 and 26 September 2025.
Closing date for nominations is 5 September.
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