The Children and Families Research Centre within the School for Policy Studies at the University of Bristol invites you to a talk by Dr Fred Wulczyn from Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago.

During this talk, Dr Wulczyn will tackle the problem of research evidence use (REU) by practitioners and policy makers working in children’s social care, within the cycle of organisational improvement.

In policy and practice circles, research evidence has a certain cache, especially when government and local authority leaders are being asked to find and implement the most efficient and effective social and individual intervention programs. Though it is helpful to focus on the ‘what works’ question, it is equally important to remember that answers to that question represent but a fraction of the evidence required to improve child protection systems.

Dr Wulczyn and colleagues’ argument hinges on the idea that research evidence use will lead to better overall outcomes for the children and families who use those services. For that to happen, several dominoes have to fall into place in a rather orderly fashion. The seminar will explore the interconnections between research evidence, the use of research evidence, and the link between research evidence and outcomes within the complex system of children’s social care services.

Event details

This free seminar will take place in the Priory Road Complex at the University of Bristol, from 14:00-15:30. It will be followed by a free drinks and networking reception from 15:30-17:00.

This is a hybrid event that allows participants to join the seminar on Zoom.

Both in-person and online tickets must be booked via Eventbrite. If you purchase an online ticket, you will receive joining instructions the day before the event.

About the speaker

Dr. Fred Wulczyn is a Senior Research Fellow at Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago and the Director of the Center for State Child Welfare Data. The work of the Data Center is organised around the research evidence public and private child welfare agencies need to improve outcomes for children. A core asset of the Data Center is the Multistate Foster Care Data Archive. With the records of more than 4.5 million foster children and more than 3 decades of history, the Archive is the oldest continuously updated data source of its kind in the world.

After helping to launch Chapin Hall as a University of Chicago graduate student, Dr. Wulczyn spent a decade working for the New York State Department of Social Services. Wulczyn received a Ph.D. from the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice at the University of Chicago, a Master of Social Work from Marywood University, and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Sociology from Juniata College.

Dr. Wulczyn’s work has focused on how states respond to children who are unable to live at home. He brings a multidisciplinary perspective to this work, drawing inspiration from disciplines such as mathematics, population biology, human development, sociology, system dynamics, and social work. His contributions to research evidence use focuses on the evidence needed to operate complex systems.

Dr Fred Wulczyn