Work
Current work
- Dr Siobhan Kelly is working on a project in collaboration with DanceSyndrome. It explores methodological decision making with people living with learning disabilities. Find out more here.
- Dr Melanie Stephens and Dr Lorna Chesterton are undertaking a Delphi‑designed study to establish consensus statements outlining best practice for HEIs and social care providers across England and Wales. The work spans the full adult social care nursing education pathway, including pre‑entry engagement, early transition, curriculum delivery, practice learning, enrichment opportunities, and progression to graduation. Watch this space!
- Professor Claire Pryor and Dr Lorraine Henshaw are X.
- The team have completed a research priority setting project for adult social care nursing. Find out more here.
- The team carried out a large scale study to understand the landscape of learning disability nursing. Find out more here.
- The team are about to begin a review centred around social care interventions designed to reduce delayed discharge and achieve associated cost savings.
Publications
The research team has published extensively on a wide range of topics related to nursing and social care. View all our publications.
Awards and professional achievements
- Chief Nurse Adult Social Care Gold Awards presented to Dr Melanie Stephens, Professor Vanessa Heaslip and Professor Margaret Rowe.
- Professor Vanessa Heaslip from the University of Salford has been announced as one of the 2025 International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame Inductees. She is only the 10th UK nurse to have made the prestigious list in its 16-year history.
- Dr Melanie Stephens has recently started her new role as the NIHR Research Delivery Network North West Settings Lead (RSSL) for Residential Care.
- Professor Vanessa Heaslip has been elected as President Elect for Sigma Phi Mu Chapter
- A project led by Dr Melanie Stephens was shortlisted for the Nursing Times Awards 2024 and won the University of Salford’s Best Policy and Practice Collaboration at the Celebration of Innovation Awards 2024.
Showcasing associated projects
In addition to the research conducted by our team, we are keen to highlight the innovative and impactful projects led by our colleagues across the university in the field of social care:
- Dr Adam Spacey has worked on a number of papers related to advance care planning in care homes. You can view these here and here.
- Sarah Kennedy’s work explores supervision and assessment models for learning disability nursing students in non-traditional placement settings. View this here.
- Dr Kirsty Marshall (University of Salford) is part of a research project led by Prof Carol Atkinson (Manchester Metropolitan University), in collaboration with the University of Liverpool, funded by the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR). The study explores ‘blended roles’- where social care workers take on some duties of community nurses – to better understand how these new ways of working function in practice. Currently, there is limited evidence on their effectiveness and impact. The research aims to:
- Review existing literature and data on blended roles.
- Gather insights from health and social care workers, service users, families, and others involved.
- Develop a framework to measure the effectiveness of blended roles and recommend key data for ongoing evaluation.
- Create a practical toolkit to support the successful implementation of blended roles, ensuring they meet the needs of people using services.