The Centre for Care Research and Policy at the LSHTM brings together a multidisciplinary team of researchers specialising in social care, health services research, policy evaluation, health economics, and social science. Our work focuses on understanding the complex interactions between long-term care and other interconnected systems, particularly healthcare, housing, and labour markets. Recognising the pressing challenges posed by demographic shifts, workforce shortages, and climate change, we foster collaboration at national and international levels to generate evidence that informs policy and practice.
The Centre for Care Research and Policy hosts regular seminars and engagement events to foster knowledge exchange, build capacity, and strengthen national and international collaborations. Our events bring together researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and stakeholders to discuss pressing issues in long-term care and its intersections with health systems, housing, and workforce dynamics.
The Centre for Care Research and Policy at the LSHTM is a diverse team of researchers dedicated to exploring long-term care and its connections with health services, social care, housing, and labour markets. Bringing together expertise in policy evaluation, health economics, and social science, we examine how these systems interact and evolve.
In the face of challenges like demographic shifts, workforce shortages, and climate change, we prioritise collaboration—both nationally and internationally—to produce research that shapes effective policies and practices. Through our work, we aim to generate evidence that supports sustainable, equitable, and informed decision-making in long-term care.
By integrating interdisciplinary perspectives and engaging in cross-sectoral partnerships, we aim to advance equitable and sustainable solutions that improve outcomes for individuals, communities, and systems. Our research explores critical issues such as funding models, workforce dynamics, service integration, and the broader societal impacts of long-term care. Through this work, we strive to enhance understanding, shape policy, and contribute to innovative, evidence-based approaches to long-term care worldwide.
We are committed to knowledge translation and mobilisation, ensuring that cutting-edge research is shared in timely and accessible ways to inform policy and practice. Through interactive discussions, networking opportunities, and expert-led sessions, we aim to bridge the gap between research and real-world impact.
Whether you are a researcher, policymaker, or practitioner, our events offer a platform to collaborate, share insights, and contribute to shaping the future of long-term care. Join us to stay informed, get involved, and help drive meaningful change.
The Centre for Care Research and Policy was established in 2023 and is led by Professor Shereen Hussein.
Shereen Hussein
Shereen Hussein is the Founder and Director of the Centre for Care Research and Policy and Professor of Health and Social Care Policy at the °®ÍþÄÌapp of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. An internationally recognised expert in ageing, social care, and social policy, she brings a multidisciplinary background in medical demography, statistics, and computer science. Shereen has advised governments and global organisations, including the WHO, the World Bank, and the UK Parliament. She leads the consortium and the Network, advancing equitable care in low- and middle-income countries. Her research explores the resilience of social care systems to global challenges such as climate change, migration, and demographic shifts, with a strong focus on diversity, equity, and the lived experiences of both care users and workers. A prolific scholar, she is Co-Editor-in-Chief of and contributes widely to global policy debates on ageing and social care.
Paul Boadu
Mary Alison Durand
Meherunissa Hamid
Meherunissa Hamid is a public health researcher and practitioner with over 15 years of experience delivering equity-driven research, health systems strengthening, and strategic policy engagement across international and UK contexts. She has spent a decade in Pakistan leading large-scale clinical trials, national health programmes, and gender-transformative research. Over the past five years, she has focused on UK-based research addressing structural inequalities in health and higher education, particularly at the intersections of race, gender, and migration. This research has been for her Doctorate of Public Health (DrPH) research, which focussed on England’s social care sector by examining how gendered and racialised devaluation of care work affects migrant and minoritised workers, highlighting gaps in training policies and working conditions. Moreover, as part of her doctoral research portfolio, she also conducted a study on the postgraduate research admissions process and practice at LSHTM by exploring the structural and procedural barriers to access, using an equity and inclusion lens to surface institutional practices that reinforce exclusion.
Meherunissa is committed to advancing research that addresses the intersections of race, health, gender and equality in health and social care. With a background in health system strengthening, she brings both practical experience and a critical perspective to initiatives aimed at improving health outcomes. She is particularly interested in collaborating with academic institutions, public bodies, and civil society organisations to strengthen research on health equity, with a focus on women and marginalised populations.
Henning Jensen
Henning Tarp Jensen is an expert macroeconomic modeller, and he has worked in the area of macroeconomic policy analysis since the late-1990s. He holds degrees in Mathematics and Economics (MSc), and Development Economics (PhD) from University of Copenhagen, and he has extensive experience in applying macroeconomic simulation models for policy analyses across a broad spectrum of economics including development policy, trade policy, and labour market policy, and for the past 15 years, he has collaborated closely with Marcus Keogh-Brown, applying and developing models across a range of infectious and non-infectious diseases in diverse country contexts. Together with Marcus Keogh-Brown, his recent work is increasingly focused on Alzheimer's Disease and dementia, exploring the interplay between social care, informal caregiving, and economic productivity.
Marcus Keogh-Brown
Marcus Keogh-Brown has worked in the area of health-focused macroeconomic modelling for over 20 years. For the past 15 years, he has collaborated closely with Henning Tarp Jensen, applying and developing models across a range of infectious and non-infectious diseases in diverse country contexts. His recent work has increasingly focused on Alzheimer's Disease and dementia, exploring the interplay between social care, informal caregiving, and economic productivity. His current research aims to deepen understanding of the dynamic relationships between health systems, social care services, and informal caregiving, particularly in the context of rising dementia prevalence in ageing populations.
Erika Kispeter
Erika Kispeter is a qualitative social researcher, with an interest in the paid and unpaid work of long-term care and gender in/equalities. Since 2022, she has been a member of the Research Group on Care Workforce Change at the ESRC-funded Centre for Care. She has been involved in studies on: the digital skills of the adult social care workforce in England; how social care employers make decisions around employing migrant workers; the labour market position of women who provide long-term care to family or friends while also working for pay; and the quality of gender equality policies, with a particular focus on work-care reconciliation policies. She is particularly interested in: how ‘front line’ care workers utilise their skills in their everyday work and, closely connected to this, how new work roles are created in social care and at the intersection of health and social care.
Mirza Lalani
Fiona Lerigo
Keyi Li
Keyi Li is a mixed-methods researcher specialising in health and social care services research. She is a member of the , as well as the . Her work spans both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, including analysing the impact of socio-economic factors on health and social care costs, and evaluating public health policies.
Keyi has a strong interest in adult social care research. She is currently working on a project examining the adult social care market in England, focusing on the composition and dynamics of home care and care home providers and users. You can find more about the project . She is also interested in the broader context of social care, including the links between climate change, the environment, and social care services, as well as the delivery of care across different settings for older people.
David Lugo Palacios
Nicholas Mays
Nicholas Mays is a health services and social care researcher and policy evaluator with a particular interest in the relationship between the health and long-term care sectors and how this affects quality of care and users’ experiences.
In the last decade, he has been involved in a wide range of social care research in England on: the views and preferences of members of the public on the balance between collective and individual payment for care in later life; the uptake and impact of direct payments on the personalization of care received by people in residential care; the potential contribution of social impact bond investing in the funding of social care interventions; and the governance of integrated health and social care systems
He co-led the NIHR-funded national evaluation of the Integrated Care and Support Pioneer Programme from 2015 to 2022 with Mary Alison Durand.
Dorota Osipovic
Dorota Osipovic is an economic sociologist specialising in the study of health care organisations. She is a member of the , set up to study commissioning health services in the English NHS and support national policymakers. She has researched partnership working and joint commissioning arrangements between health and local government authorities in England (responsible for commissioning health and social care services respectively).
She is interested to collaborate in the research looking at joint commissioning for health and social care; interorganisational relations between health and social care providers; workforce supply, diversity of providers and markets in care services; interplay between formal and informal care (funding, eligibility and public attitudes); and international comparisons of care systems (including in Central and Eastern Europe).
Sarah Smith
Current projects
- Research Group on Care Workforce Change
November 2021 - November 2026
- Funder: Economic and Social Research Council and NIHR, part of the
- PI: Shereen Hussein
- Researcher (LSHTM): Erika Kispeter
The care workforce is central to building resilient, sustainable care systems that can adapt to both ongoing challenges and sudden shocks. Our research explores how the adult and children’s social care workforce is evolving across different settings and how these changes affect care quality, worker wellbeing, and system sustainability.
We focus on the drivers, dynamics, and impacts of workforce change at multiple levels — from national policy and system-wide trends (macro), to provider practices (meso), and individual worker experiences (micro). Our work acknowledges that workforce change can be gradual or triggered by unexpected events, such as public health crises or policy shifts.
Current projects examine critical topics including:
- Drivers of workforce change and system resilience
- The role of technology and innovation in transforming care delivery
- Impacts of care innovations on workers’ roles, wellbeing, and service quality
- Migration and the international dimensions of the care workforce
- Diversity, equity, and inequalities across workers’ life courses
We work in partnership with stakeholders, care providers, workers, and service users to co-design research that reflects sector priorities and real-world complexity. Our goal is to generate insights that support better jobs, better care, and a stronger, more adaptive care sector.
- Developing a validated scale for Adult Social Care worK-related quality of life (ASCK-WELL)
04 Feb 2024 - 28 Feb 2026
- Funder: NIHR Research for Patient Benefit: Research for Social Care
- PI: Shereen Hussein
- Co-Is: Sarah Smith and Mirza Lalani (LSHTM) Nadra Ahmed (National Care Association), Karolina Gerlich (Care Worker Charity)
- Team: Fiona Lerigo, John Correa (LSHTM)
The ASCK-WELL project aims to improve the wellbeing of adult social care workers, which is essential for delivering high-quality care. Building on earlier research, this project will refine and validate a sector-specific questionnaire to measure the quality of life and wellbeing of social care staff.
Working closely with care workers, providers, service users, and sector partners, we will co-develop and test this tool to ensure it reflects the real experiences of the workforce. The final version will be widely shareable, accompanied by a user guide, and made available in accessible formats such as videos, blogs, and presentations.
Through collaboration with stakeholders, we aim to support the use of this tool across the sector to enhance workforce wellbeing and ultimately improve the quality of care. The project is guided by an advisory group that includes care workers and service users, all actively involved in shaping the research and its impact.
- LOCATED: Local Care market composition Assessment – Trends and gEographical Disparities
1 May 2025 - 31 October 2026
- Funder: NIHR Policy Research Programme,
- PI: Shereen Hussein
- Researcher: Keyi Li
The LOCATED project explores how the adult social care market is shaped across different regions in England. As the government shifts focus toward community-based care, this study investigates how the balance between home care and residential care has evolved over the past decade (2014–2024), and how this varies geographically.
Operating within a complex and diverse care market, the project examines how local factors—such as deprivation, population health, and demographics—influence care provision. Using national datasets, the team will analyse trends, map geographical disparities, and identify key drivers behind the composition of care markets.
Key objectives
- Track long-term trends in care home and home care services across local authorities.
- Analyse the balance between home and residential care provision in 2024.
- Identify the impact of local socio-economic and health factors on care market composition.
The findings will inform policies supporting the shift to home- and community-based care, with direct relevance to national and local decision-makers, including the Department of Health and Social Care and the Care Quality Commission.
- Mapping the Impact of Extreme Weather and Adaptation Strategies in Adult Social Care
June 2025- June 2027
- Funder: NIHR Policy Research Programme,
- PI: Shereen Hussein
- Researcher: Keyi Li
Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of extreme weather events in the UK - such as heatwaves, cold spells, and flooding. These events pose serious health risks, especially for people who rely on adult social care. Yet, while healthcare systems have begun to adapt, we know far less about how social care services are impacted or how they can respond effectively.
This project addresses that gap by examining how climate hazards affect adult social care users and services, and by identifying practical adaptation strategies. The focus is on understanding which groups and settings are most vulnerable, what interventions already exist, and how suitable they are for the UK’s decentralised social care system.
Key research questions
- How do extreme weather events affect social care services and users?
- What differences exist across settings, provider types, and locations?
- What adaptation strategies or policies have been tried, and how effective are they?
- What can the social care sector learn from climate responses in health systems?
Completed projects
- ASSERT: The Adult Social Care Staff Evaluation of Reforms to Training
January – July 2024
- Funder: NIHR Policy Research Programme
- PI: Shereen Hussein
- Co-Is: Nicholas Mays, Richard Grieve, David Lugo Palacios, Mirza Lalani
- Researcher: Meherunissa Hamid
The ASSERT project was a first-stage evaluation of national policy reforms aimed at strengthening the adult social care workforce in England. These reforms focus on improving training, wellbeing, and career development through initiatives such as the Care Workforce Pathway, a revised Care Certificate, funded training opportunities, and a new digital skills passport.
This initial phase of ASSERT assesses the readiness and relevance of these reforms and prepares for a full-scale evaluation by:
- Identifying existing data sources and gaps for future analysis
- Gathering insights from care workers, employers, training providers, and policymakers on the reforms’ likely impacts
- Exploring practical challenges and enablers for successful implementation
- Co-developing clear success criteria and an evaluation framework with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and sector partners
Why this matters
The social care workforce faces persistent challenges—high vacancy rates, low pay, limited career progression, and post-pandemic pressures. ASSERT addresses the urgent need to evaluate whether current policy changes can improve job quality, staff retention, and ultimately, care outcomes.
Methodology
Through stakeholder interviews, rapid policy reviews, and data audits, ASSERT ensures the full evaluation will be grounded in sector realities. This includes collaboration with key representatives and the integration of patient and public involvement (PPIE) to ensure care users and frontline workers shape the study’s direction.
- Protecting older people living in care homes from COVID-19: challenges and solutions to implementing social distancing and isolation
November 2020 - November 2022
- Funder: National Institute for Health Research Health and Social Care Delivery Research Programme
- PI: Joanne Fitzpatrick (KCL)
- Co-Is: Shereen Hussein (LSHTM), Anne Marie Rafferty, Ruth Harris (KCL), Sally Brearley (PPIE/Kingston University), Richard Adams (Sears Healthcare Ltd.), Lindsay Rees (Encore Care Homes).
Summary: Older people living in care homes faced significant risks during the COVID-19 pandemic, with social distancing and isolation introduced to protect them. However, implementing these measures often proved difficult and had unintended consequences for residents, families, and staff.
This mixed-methods explored real-life experiences of social distancing and isolation across six care homes in England. Interviews with staff, residents, family members, and health and care leaders revealed that these measures created emotional strain, moral dilemmas, and a sense of institutionalisation—particularly impacting those with cognitive impairments. Despite these challenges, care homes developed creative ways to maintain communication and connection.
highlighted gaps in policy, the emotional toll on care home communities, and a sense of isolation from national health structures. Insights from this work informed the co-design of a practical toolkit to support residents, families, and care staff—both now and during future outbreaks.
This research lays the groundwork for developing trauma-informed care approaches and evaluating long-term strategies to help residents live well in care settings.
- Carlos Mendes de Leon (Georgetown University) Aging and dementia research in LMIC: Opportunities and challenges; Shereen Hussein (LSHTM) MENARAH Network, 15 May 2025.
- Barbara de Roit (Utrecht University) Enhancing and Sustaining the Quality of Life at Work for Long-Term Care Workers; Fiona Lerigo (LSHTM) ASCK-WELL project, 20 February 2025.
- Nicoline Annetorp Roth (PhD candidate, University of Stockholm); Erika Kispeter (LSHTM): Health and social care integration, 14 November 2024.
- Catherine Needham (University of Birmingham) Social Care in the UK’s Four Nations: between two paradigms. 3 June 2024.
- Debora Price (University of Manchester) Social Care Data: What Now, Where Next?, 18 April 2024. (Organised with LSHTM Centre for Global Chronic Conditions, Centre for Data and Statistical Science for Health)
- Mark Wilberforce (University of York) Recruitment and retention of a person-centred homecare workforce: An agenda for applied research? 29 February 2024.