Achievements and Future Directions
Over the five years since 2002, when the Health Foundation awarded a grant to establish the Health Foundation Chair in Learning Disabilities at the University of Cambridge, we have achieved the following objectives:
1. We have established the interdisciplinary Learning Disabilities Research Group (LDRG) based at the University of Cambridge and led by senior members of the disciplines of psychiatry, psychology, and sociology. We also established a senior post in molecular biology at the Babraham Institute near Cambridge. The holder of this post has recently moved to the University of Cardiff but remains a senior member of the LDRG. We have also established academic links with other departments, at the University of Cambridge and other universities, both in the above disciplines and a range of other disciplines, including genetics, geography, computer science, law, and philosophy.
2. We are founder members of the
Centre for Participation together with Speaking Up, the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge, the Regional Valuing People Support Team, and local statutory services. The aim of this Centre is to support research with and by people with learning disabilities and ensure that the findings are disseminated to those whom they will benefit. We have also supported the voluntary sector, working with Respond, Speaking Up, the Home Farm Trust, the Down’s Syndrome Association, the Prader-Willi Syndrome Association, the Tuberous Sclerosis Association, and national and local Mencap. The LDRG is a group member of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disabilities (I.A.S.S.I.D) and has hosted and actively participated in research meetings of this, and other organisations, concerned with the well-being of people with learning disabilities.
3. We have established specific networks to facilitate research in learning disabilities. These includes the following: first, being founder members of the Eastern Region Learning Disability Research Network the aim of which is to enable and support research that requires access to a larger population and to ensure that the findings from research in general are disseminated effectively through regional and national services; secondly, the Centre for Participation (see above); thirdly, specific collaborations with colleagues in other universities including Birmingham, Cardiff, Hull, Glasgow, Newcastle and Northumbria; and, fourthly, establishing a European Prader-Willi research network funded through an EU grant (www.pwseu.eu) .
4. We have undertaken major grant-funded research projects under the four broad themes of biologically-orientated ‘syndrome-based’ research, studies in neuropsychiatry and autism, clinico-legal studies, and studies related to the concept of citizenship for people with learning disabilities. As summarised on the web-site, we have used a broad range of approaches and methodologies, made possible by the range and extent of expertise available both in the LDRG, and through our collaborations. These projects have, in part, been conceptual but have also been practical, aiming to evaluate and/or inform policy and practice relating to legislation, service provision, support and treatment, and advocacy.
5. We have successfully obtained funding for post-graduates from a range of backgrounds, including psychiatry, psychology, geography, and social anthropology, to carry out studies relating to people with learning disabilities. Six students have been awarded PhD Degrees, with three more due to complete during 2007. Four other students are at earlier stages of their doctoral studies.
For the second five-year period, 2007 to 2012, we seek to ensure the long-term future of the LDRG and to establish ourselves as an international centre for the study of intellectual disabilities that can draw upon the expertise that presently exists in the LDRG and at the University of Cambridge and to expand and to develop further links with other universities, statutory services and voluntary Associations both in the UK and internationally. We propose to develop our work further in the following ways:
1. To obtain long-term funding to support the senior academic posts and to establish PhD studentships that enable research in the field of learning disabilities to be carried out from different disciplinary perspectives. These two developments are crucial as they will broaden the range of expertise available to support research in learning disabilities at the University of Cambridge, and, of equal importance, will provide the means to engage undergraduates and postgraduates in this area. Through these activities, we will support the next generation of academic researchers, academic clinicians, and policy-makers, in the UK and elsewhere.
2. In collaboration with colleagues and other organisations, to secure the long-term future for the Centre for Participation and the Eastern Region Learning Disabilities Research Network to enable us to contribute to, and develop, larger scale local research projects in partnership with health and social care organisations and people with learning disabilities. For some projects involving participants with a rare condition associated with learning disabilities, such networks are essential both at a national level and also, often, with the rest of Europe and across the world.
3. To further develop our interdisciplinary and collaborative research projects with academic colleagues at other universities under the broad themes previously identified and ensure that the findings are disseminated so that they inform policy and practice. Through such collaborations, we also aim to enhance our skills in some of the innovative technologies and methodologies to ensure that the best approaches, both in traditional science and social science, are applied to research issues to benefit people with learning disabilities. This requires research and development funding, and some additional training, and also an increase in the administrative support available to the LDRG.
4. In collaboration with European partners, the I.A.S.S.I.D., and other organisations, to develop existing links within Europe and those that we have begun to form with other, less privileged, parts of the world, in order to contribute to the understanding of the needs of people with learning disabilities across different countries, different cultures, and different economic conditions.
