Consulting Projects

Consulting Projects

Dingwall Enterprises has undertaken a great variety of work using Robert Dingwall’s professional skills in consultancy, research and writing. These are a few examples:

Consultancy

Monitoring of the Impact on the Workforce of the Reorganisation of the Research Design Service, 2022-23

Robert Dingwall was commissioned to monitor the longitudinal impact of a major restructuring of the provision of methodological advice to health service researchers on the staff involved mainly through online qualitative interviews.

Pandemic Response, 2020-23

Robert Dingwall was involved extensively in UK pandemic planning 2005-07 and was re-engaged as a UK government adviser for the Covid-19 pandemic. He has been a member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Viral Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG), providing technical assessments to SAGE, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) sub-group on Covid-19 vaccines and the Moral and Ethical Advisory Group (MEAG) advising the Chief Medical Officer, as well as other ad hoc groups.

Health and Safety in a Changing World, 2010-16

Robert Dingwall managed a £1.4 million research programme for the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, the world’s largest health and safety professional membership organisation and the only chartered body for practitioners. This involved advising on project design, liaison between five research teams in universities and partner organizations, leading programme workshops, reviewing project reports and editing a book of the findings for a professional readership. The final reports are available online

Research Strategy and Performance, 2013-14 and 2021

Ahead of the 2014 and 2021 UK Research Excellence Framework assessments, Robert Dingwall was commissioned by nine UK universities to review proposed submissions in sociology and social policy, and to advise on measures to improve quality ratings.

Measuring Impact, 2014- 16

Robert Dingwall and Michael Hewitt of RDgenic Research Ltd advised the East Midlands Patient Safety Collaborative on methods of measuring patient and service user impact from healthcare projects. They emphasized the need for shared ownership over information gathering so that it genuinely supports quality improvement.

Research

East Midlands Health Innovation and Education Cluster, 2012-13

An evaluation of this initiative to promote innovation in the delivery of NHS care and education by combining the expertise of industry, health and education at a local level.

UK Learned Societies, 2013-14

The Academy of Social Sciences commissioned a review of the financial models, strategies and impact of 44 learned societies in the social sciences with regard to emerging threats. A paper based on the report was published in Science and Public Policy. This work was extended in collaboration with Research Consulting for Universities UK.

PROmoting integrity in the use of RESearch results (PRO-RES)

Dingwall Enterprises participated in a €2.8 million EU project to develop an ethics framework for non-medical research and innovation, helping to promote more responsible research engagements and enabling policymakers to make more effective use of research information.

Writing

Sage Handbook of Research Management, 2016

Robert Dingwall and Mary Byrne McDonnell, executive director of the Social Science Research Council in New York, produced the first comprehensive resource to support leaders of research teams, groups, centres or institutes.

Blogging

Robert Dingwall is a featured blogger for Social Science Space  and has contributed to The Conversation, Centre for Health and the Public Interest and Cost of Living. He also writes frequent guest articles for professional and trade magazines in health and social care and op-ed pieces for major UK newspapers. Robert is a regular contributor to local, and more occasionally to national and international, radio and TV programmes.