About us

Aim

The RCN Research & Development (R&D) Co-ordinating Centre is a member-driven resource that promotes excellence in care through nursing and health R&D.

Working with the RCN Research Society, and responding to the RCN Strategic Plan 2003-2008 to: "Enhance the research base…and support research activity of members", our work is co-ordinated into three themes:

As well as the annual international nursing research conference, we work with other RCN departments to market our work and fulfil our corporate responsibilities. This website and a weekly electronic bulletin is our main conduit for information flow.

Partnership working

The RCN R&D Co-ordinating Centre works in partnership with the RCN Research Society and other key stakeholders to promote excellence in care through R&D.

Stakeholders include:

Areas of work we are currently engaged in includes:

Advice and information

This website covers funding and job opportunities, research networks, policy documents and research governance arrangements, study days, courses and conferences. It's a one-stop-shop for all your nursing R&D needs. If you can't find what you're looking for, let us know, and we'll see what we can do.

Weekly electronic bulletin 

Every Monday, we send out an electronic bulletin to thousands of our stakeholders to keep them informed in a concise, timely way of all the latest developments in the world of nursing R&D.

We endeavour to have a link R&D nurse/manager in every higher education institution and health care provider in the UK, who in turn cascades this information via their local networks. If you would like to receive the free weekly electronic bulletin, go to the News and Events section of the website or sign up now using the simple on-line form.

Research and development: towards a strategy

A vision for the future of research within the RCN was agreed in principle by RCN Council in July 2006. In the shared vision, research activity across the RCN is recognised as member-led, coherent, strategic and relevant. There are three overlapping themes in this vision, namely:

You can find out more in the Research Strategy section of this website.

Promoting excellence in care

When nursing executive directors of NHS trusts were seeking to identify how R&D could help them achieve their corporate objectives we facilitated the development of a shared vision for R&D. For more information see:  Promoting excellence: an RCN position statement.

Specialized knowledge

When mental health nurses said that the RCN was better at providing generic information than specialised knowledge we facilitated a process that led to the development of the innovative Mental Health zone. To find out more you can read about the process itself, and the business case for the creation of the Mental Health Zone in the following document: A Business Case for Managing Mental Health Nursing Knowledge (PDF, 101K) or visit the Mental health Zone .

Evaluation of the advice and information arm of the RCN R&D Co-ordinating Centre

"The RCN R&D Co-ordinating Centre provides an excellent service to a large number of nurses and others with an interest in research".

This is just one of the key messages from the recently published report: Johnson, M. & Haigh, C. (2005), Royal College of Nursing Research & Development Co-ordinating Centre Website Evaluation Report, Salford Centre for Nursing, Midwifery & Collaborative Research, University of Salford, Salford.

Other messages from the study include; "Many of the features of the web and email service, and especially the approachability and responsiveness of the staff responsible are highly commended by users".

The report also provides useful and detailed information on how the service can be further enhanced. We are not able to send out printed copies of the report, but you can download a PDF version: RCN Research & Development Co-ordinating Centre Website Evaluation Report (PDF, 933K)

If you have difficulty opening the documents please contact Dave O'Carroll, email: david.ocarroll@rcn.org.uk.

Here for you

Whether you are a nurse in clinical practice, a nurse executive director, the chief executive of a medical research charity, a health care provider or a higher education institution, the RCN R&D Co-ordinating Centre is here to work with you to promote excellence in care through nursing research and development.