Professor of Evidence-Based Social Work

I joined the Tilda Goldberg Centre for Social Work and Social Care in 2012 as Professor of Evidence-Based Social Work.

Previously I worked as Director of Research at the National Institute for Social Work (1996-2001) and at the Social Care Institute for Excellence (2001-12).

I am a qualified social worker.

Qualifications

• BA (Hons) Modern Languages - University of Cambridge, 1968-1971
• Diploma in Social Administration - University of York, 1972-1973
• Certificate in Applied Social Studies and Certificate of Qualification in Social Work - Manchester Polytechnic, 1974-1975

Teaching Role

• Evidence-based policy and practice
• Social perspectives on dementia
• Systematic evidence reviews in social work and social care

Research Interests

• How care can better reflect the wishes of people who use services and become more effective at meeting those needs.
• Ageing, early intervention, reablement and dementia services
• Services to the street community
• Systematic evidence reviews in social work and social care

Recent Research Projects

• Involving people living with dementia in systematic review
• A pilot study of post-diagnostic support for people living with dementia
• Promoting good practice in relation to alcohol use in care homes for older people (NIHR study, with SMART)
• The relationship between practice research and evidence based practice
• Reducing health inequalities among the street community (with SMART)

Service to the Academic/Professional Community

• Board of the School for Social Care Research, National Institute for Health Research (to 2016)
• Chair, JUCSWEC Research Committee (to 2015)

Recent Conference Presentations

• Overview of the Third International Practice Research Conference, Hunter College, New York.2014
• Is practice research part of evidence-based practice? Third International Conference on Practice Research, Hunter College, New York, June, 2014
• The frontiers of research democracy: involving people with dementia in a systematic review, Fourth European Conference for Social Work Research, Bolzano, April 2014
• Knowledge Building and Sharing: Lessons from SCIE for evidence-based policy and practice in Public and Non-profit Sector Managers of Human Service (Social Care) Organizations, commissioned paper for Conference on Practice Research, School of Social Welfare, University of California, Berkeley, November, 2012
• Evidence of practice, for practice, from practice, Plenary for Second International Conference on Practice Research, University of Helsinki/Heikki Waris Institute, May, with Professor Mike Austin (Berkeley), 2012
• Developing the knowledge base of social services, Danish Ministry of Social Affairs, February. 2012

Recent Publications

• Tilbury C, Hughes M, Bigby C, Fisher, M (2021) Research End-User Perspectives about Using Social Work Research in Policy and Practice. The British Journal of Social Work 51(4): 1186–1202.
• Fisher, M. (2020). From research question to practice research methodology. In L. Joubert & M. Webber (Eds.),The Routledge Handbook of Social Work Practice Research (pp. 43–56). London: Routledge.
• Fisher, M., Wade, N. and Tak, M. (2020) Post-diagnostic support for people with dementia. Available at www.researchgate.net/publication
• Sim, T., S., Austin, M., Abdullah, F., Chan, T. M. S., Chok, M., Cui, K., Epstein, I., Fisher, M., Joubert, L., Julkunen, I., Ow, R., Uggerhøj, L., Wang, S., Webber, M., Wong, K., and Yliruka, L. (2018). The Hong Kong Statement on Practice Research 2017.Research on Social Work Practice, 11, 104973151877944–7. doi.org/10.1177/1049731518779440
• Tilbury, C., Hughes, M., Bigby, C., Fisher, M., & Vogel, L. (2017). A Comparative Study of Australian Social Work Research. British Journal of Social Work, 8(1), 2217–2237. academic.oup.com/bjsw/article/47/8/2217/2997525?guestAccessKey=0abe25f7-ac0e-4c30-96f6-6b2ca5c327c3
• The Social Care Institute for Excellence and Evidence-Based Policy and Practice. British Journal of Social Work 2014; doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcu143. Available here
• Involving people living with dementia in systematic reviews. Generations Review, 24(2), pp.27–31. (with R. Kelly, A. Lawrie-Skea, J. Randall-James, N. Wade). (2014). Available here
• Involving people living with dementia in systematic reviews – Full Report (2014) [PDF]
• 'Beyond evidence-based policy and practice: reshaping the relationship between research and practice', Social Work and Social Sciences Review, 16, (2), 20-36, (2013).
• 'Practice literate research: turning the tables', Social Work and Society, 9, (1), urn:nbn:de:0009-11-29308 (2011). Available here
• Reablement: a cost effective route to better outcomes, Research Briefing 36, London, Social Care Institute for Excellence (with J. Francis, D. Rutter) (2011). Available here

Contact Details

E: mike.fisher@beds.ac.uk