research in practice for adults is a national research utilisation organisation for adult social care. The organisation was established following a request from a network of local service agencies who wished to replicate, in adult social care, the services provided by research in practice in the child and family field. The establishment of the two organisations alongside each other has resulted in the Dartington Hall Trust becoming the leading site for social care research utilisation work in England and Wales.

Our mission is to promote the use of evidence-informed policy and practice in adult social care.

Our purpose is to help our Partners use evidence from research and other sources to improve outcomes for service users and carers.

Our aims are to:

1. develop effective models of research utilisation
2. create networks that will enable Partner agencies to share each other's experiences
3. incorporate the knowledge and experience of social care practitioners into learning programmes
4. build expertise in integrating service user views into our operations and those of our Partners
5. commission new reviews of research where significant gaps are identified
6. promote better research utilisation strategies within national policy and practice frameworks

Our delivery methods include learning events, information exchange networks, practice development, Change Projects, research briefings, website products and a programme of individual support to Partner agencies. In addition, while research in practice for adults and research in practice serve different networks, our co-location and shared focus on research utilisation enable us to develop joint work on themes that concern both adult and children's services.

There are six strands to our work:

1. learning events
2. publications
3. network exchange
4. Change Projects
5. website resources
6. collaborative working

research in practice for adults has been operational since the beginning of September 2005.