CESI Fellow Professor Gavin Davidson and Researcher Dr Claire McCartan have secured funding for a short Early Career Researcher secondment based with the Department of Health NI. This placement will be based with the Office of Social Services (OSS) and the Mental Health and Capacity Unit in the Department of Health NI.

The OSS is responsible for all professional aspects of social care delivery in Northern Ireland including the social work strategy. The Mental Health and Capacity Unit is currently developing a mental health strategy for Northern Ireland. This secondment would provide an opportunity to support the work of both offices, informed by new data on the prevalence of mental health problems in children and young people in Northern Ireland. This will involve:

• Synthesising relevant research findings for the use of the Department
• Identifying relevant international mental health policy and practice
• Contributing to the evidence base with the emerging findings from the mental health prevalence study
• Attending meetings and providing research support where appropriate
• Preparing summary briefings to help inform decision-making

The funding for this secondment was granted by Economic and Social Research Council Impact Acceleration Accounts (IAA) initiative.