Miss Laura Bellussi

I joined the Centre for Child Wellbeing and Protection in 2019 after completing my Master's Degree in Psychology. As a Research Fellow, my work at the Centre entails evaluating innovations and adaptations in children and families' social care using qualitative, creative and mixed methods. I have worked on a variety of research projects in collaboration with third sector organisations. Currently, I am working on the following:

• “Developing the Evidence Base for Innovation in Social Care for Children and Families Affected by Domestic Abuse” (CAFADA). The CAFADA project examines how innovation in social care might support children and young people impacted by domestic abuse. It examines examples of innovative practice in social care, the domestic abuse and children’s sector, and the criminal justice sector, exploring how interventions are experienced by children, young people and their parents/carers, their outcomes, and their impact on the organisations within which they are embedded. This 4-year project is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

In March 2021, I started collaborating with the Dementia and Ageing research group on the project "Creating Better Lives?", an evaluation of the impact of the Life Changes Trust, which aims to transform the lives of people living with dementia, their unpaid carers and young people with care experience. The aim of the evaluation was to gauge the impact of projects funded by the Trust on individuals, communities and policy as well as their sustainability, with the final aim of defining the Trust's wider legacy.

Previous collaborations:

• "It is like talking to very good robots": experiences of online support groups for parents of babies under twelve months during the first COVID-19 lockdown. (submitted for publication)
• FACE19: Families' And Children's Experiences of COVID-19.
• Make A Change: evaluation of the ‘Change that Lasts’ perpetrator response programme.
• Open Kindergartens: improving family support provision in Scotland.
• Peer mentoring for the ‘transition’ from care in Falkirk Council.

My research interests include domestic abuse, adult and child protection, violence, integration and social equality.