Session 1: 10.30am – 11.00am
From Analytical Priorities to Organisational Value: Reflections on HDRC Newcastle’s Collaborative Data Projects
This session will provide an honest and practical overview of how HDRC Newcastle works with council directorates to identify, prioritise and develop analytical projects. Drawing on two collaborations with Housing and Communities, the session will explore the project journey from early scoping and engagement at strategic, managerial and operational levels through to analysis, prototype development and the translation of learning into service and organisational improvement.
The session will share our practical approaches to collaborative workshops, project prioritisation and the development of realistic data projects with a focus on health inequalities. It will highlight both successes and challenges, as well as the importance of recognising and building upon the value generated throughout the project lifecycle.
The case studies will illustrate how data from different systems can be brought together to develop a clearer understanding of local need. We will summarise the analytical methods and tools used, alongside the ethical, data quality and operational considerations encountered.
We will also reflect openly on the challenges that can prevent analytical projects from progressing as originally planned. A central theme will be the importance of recognising and capturing value throughout the project lifecycle. The session will consider how individual projects can contribute to longer-term culture change, build analytical capability and create the conditions for future work. We will also share practical ways in which project teams can “help their future selves” by improving documentation, data definitions, governance and reusable analytical processes as part of every collaboration.
We will also reflect openly on the factors that can prevent analytical projects from progressing as originally planned. The session will consider how projects can nevertheless generate wider organisational value, including improved data quality and standards, stronger relationships between analytical and service teams, increased analytical capability and more confident use of evidence in decision-making. We will also share practical ways in which analysts and researchers can “help their future selves” by improving documentation, data definitions, governance and reusable analytical processes through each collaboration.
Throughout the session, delegates will be invited to reflect on how they scope and prioritise analytical projects, maintain engagement across different organisational levels, overcome bottlenecks and demonstrate value beyond the delivery of a final product. The session will conclude with practical lessons for developing sustainable, insight-driven working across local government.
Ruth Boldon & Lee Burns, Newcastle City Council
Session 2: 11.00am – 11.30am
Improving school attendance in Newcastle: understanding the local challenge through mixed-methods research
This session will present findings and reflections from a mixed-methods research project undertaken by Newcastle City Councils Health Determinants Research Collaboration in collaboration with Children and Families directorate.
The research combined statistical analysis of attendance of pupils in Newcastle upon-Tyne to identify factors associated with attendance and inform the sampling design for qualitative analysis. Qualitative research captured perspectives from children and young people, parents, school staff, council attendance officers and wider partners from health, social care and voluntary and community organisations.
The session will focus on the research findings, how we are disseminating the research findings with various stakeholders including children and young people and reflections on conducting research projects within a local authority setting.
What the webinar will cover
During the proposed 30-minute session, the presenters will:
• introduce the scale and significance of school absence in Newcastle;
• explain how quantitative and qualitative evidence were brought together;
• share the principal statistical findings and lived-experience themes;
• highlight practical recommendations for schools, families, local authorities and wider partners.
The session will conclude by inviting delegates to consider how local authorities can combine administrative data with the voices of children, families and practitioners to develop more informed, proportionate and collaborative responses to persistent absence. Key areas for discussion will include early identification, data linkage, multi-agency working, the role of schools as community hubs and how local evidence can be translated into service improvement.
Dr Grace Gardner & Dr Ruth Boldon, Newcastle HDRC
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