Our programme focuses on the care needs of adults living at home with chronic health problems or disabilities, and seeks sustainable solutions to the UK's contemporary 'crisis of care'. It is distinctive in investigating sustainability and wellbeing in care holistically across care systems, work and relationships; addresses disconnection between theorisations of care in different disciplines; and locates all its research in the context of international scholarship, actively engaging with policy partners. It will fill knowledge gaps, contribute new theoretical ideas and data analyses, and provide useful, accurate evidence to inform care planning, provision and experience. It develops and critically engages with policy and theoretical debates about: care infrastructure (systems, networks, partnerships, standards); divisions of caring labour/the political economy of care (inequalities, exploitation); care ethics, rights, recognition and values (frameworks, standards, entitlements, wellbeing outcomes); care technologies and human-technological interactions; and care relations in emotional, familial, community and intergenerational context. Our team comprises 20 scholars in 7 universities, linked to an international network spanning 15 countries. Our programme comprises integrative activities, in which the whole team works together to develop a new conceptual framework on sustainable care and wellbeing, and two Work Strands, each with 4 linked projects, on 'Care Systems' & 'Care Work & Relationships'. 'Care Systems' will: (i) study prospects, developments and differentiation in the four care systems operating in England, N. Ireland, Scotland & Wales, comparing their approaches to markets, privatisation and reliance on unpaid care; (ii) model costs and contributions in care, covering those of carers and employers as well as public spending on care; (iii) assess the potential of emerging technologies to enhance care system sustainability; and (iv) analyse, in a dynamic policy context, migrant care workers' role in the sustainability of homecare. 'Care Work & Relationships' will: (i) develop case studies of emerging homecare models, and assess their implications for sustainable wellbeing; (ii) focus on carers who combine employment with unpaid care, filling gaps in knowledge about the effectiveness of workplace support and what care leave and workplace standard schemes can contribute to sustainable care arrangements; (iii) explore how care technologies can be integrated to support working carers, ensuring wellbeing outcomes across caring networks; and (iv) investigate care 'in' and 'out of' place, as systems adapt or come under pressure associated with population diversity and mobility. Each project will collaborate with our international partners. These scholars, in 26 collaborating institutions, will ensure we learn from others about ways of understanding, measuring or interpreting developments in how care is organised and experienced, and keep up to date with latest research and scholarship. Our capacity-building strategy will build future scholarly expertise in the study of sustainability and wellbeing in care, and ensure our concepts, methods, and research findings achieve international standards of excellence. Universities in our partnership are contributing 5 UK & 12 overseas PhD studentships, enabling us to form an international early career scholar network on sustainable care, supported by our senior team and partners. Our impact strategy, led by Carers UK, involves leading UK and international policy partners. Informing policy, practice and debate, we will co-produce analyses and guidance, enhance data quality, promote good practice and engage decision-makers, policymakers, practitioners in the public, private and voluntary sectors, carers, people with care needs, and the media. Our Advisory Board of leading academics, policy/practice figures and opinion formers will guide all our work.

The Centre for Care is a collaboration between the universities of Sheffield, Birmingham, Kent and Oxford, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, the Office for National Statistics, Carers UK, the National Children's Bureau and the Social Care Institute for Excellence. Working with care sector partners and leading international teams, it addresses the urgent need for new, accessible evidence on care. Arrangements for care, and people who need or provide care, are under unprecedented pressure. Quality, cost, unmet need and the situation of carers and care workers are central concerns. Care interacts with other systems in the NHS, jobs market and in policy on migration, welfare and housing. The cultures, values and public policies that determine eligibility for support and funding rules are also crucial, and 'shocks' like Covid-19 have profound and multiple effects. Together, these factors have led to fragmented care provision and unfair outcomes, and the need for reform is now widely accepted. The Centre for Care provides new evidence and thinking for policymakers, care sector organisations and for people who need or provide care. Its objectives are to: - work with people who need care, carers, care workers and others to produce studies that improve understanding of care and promote wellbeing; - publish robust findings on care systems, on paid and unpaid care, and on diversity, inequalities and sustainability in care; - exploit existing data and develop new studies, producing findings that policymakers and other researchers can use; - work with PhD students and emerging scholars, establishing a new generation of care specialists; - stimulate and inform public discussion of care and translate research into practice; and - collaborate with other care research teams, within and beyond the UK. In studying care, we focus on support, services and protections to promote the wellbeing of vulnerable or disabled people of all ages, and the networks, communities and systems that affect them. Our work will generate new knowledge on three major topics: 'Care trajectories and constraints: requiring, receiving and giving care' explores experiences of care at different life stages and as people transition between different parts of the care system. It also studies how giving or receiving care is affected when families are geographically dispersed. 'Inequalities in care: consequences, planning and place' uses latest statistical and data linkage techniques to learn how socio-economic, health and other inequalities shape experience of care, and the consequences of these for groups and individuals in different places and over time. 'Care workforce change: organisation, delivery and development' focuses on care worker recruitment and conditions; regulation and organisation of care work, including the introduction of new technologies; and efforts to improve job and service quality in care. Cross-cutting these studies, the Centre will also examine 'Care as a complex, adaptive ecosystem', 'Digital care' and Care data infrastructure', supporting the integration of all our research. This helps us develop new thinking on care inequalities, how care ecosystems operate and change, and the drivers and implications of digitalisation and other developments. It also enables us to exploit the UK's finest statistical datasets to produce compelling new insights on care and caring. Our multidisciplinary research team builds on a strong portfolio of care studies and is supported by researchers in nine other countries, all equally passionate about doing impactful research that can drive positive change in experience of care and caring. Our work is undertaken in partnership with care sector organisations and groups advocating on behalf of people who need care, carers and care workers. The Centre for Care is vibrant, innovative, and determined to make a positive difference through impactful, accessible research for all to use.

The new Industrial Strategy: Building a Britain fit for the future identified "Ageing Society" as one of 4 Grand Challenges, each representing a focal point for investment to secure the prosperity of British industry by addressing real-world problems. In line with the preference of older people and their carers to age in place, and current policy guidance, the proposed research will involve collaboration with industry partners to help them address challenges in the implementation and uptake of new technologies to support sustainable arrangements for ageing in place capable of delivering wellbeing outcomes for older people. The Fellowship aligns with 4 "Pillars" of the Industrial Strategy: Pillar 1 - Investing in Science, Research and Innovation. The Fellow's innovative research focuses on innovations to address the Ageing Society Grand Challenge and aims to strengthen the role of UK expertise (in services, universities, innovation) in the global market for digital care products in ICTs, 'new generation' telecare products, and robotics. Pillar 3 - Upgrading Infrastructure. The digitisation of care has reconfigured approaches to care interactions, but current care UK infrastructure requires upgrading to take full advantage of innovations in this area. Pillar 5 - Improving Procurement. At present, procurement of care technologies relies heavily on local authorities and NHS Trusts. The research will explore how the rapidly emerging private care consumer market is influencing supply chains and its potential to drive innovation. Pillar 8 - Cultivating World-Leading Sectors. The UK's past role in developing new care technologies positions its innovators and universities to benefit from, and play a lead role in, the increasingly competitive global market for care technologies and services. The Fellow will examine challenges, benefits and possibilities for businesses and organisations designing and producing new technologies to support ageing in place. He will work closely with industry and non-academic partners to help them identify their needs and future potential, collaborating with six organisations which have already been recruited to the study and with others to be identified during the lifetime of the Fellowship. The research will focus on case examples of promising innovations. These will include companies developing various potentially transformative solutions, including assistive robotic systems capable of enhancing quality of life as people age; emotionally engaging and useful robot solutions for use in the homes of older people; and other technologies offering different kinds of modern care solutions attractive or useful to older people requiring care and those who provide their support (carers and care workers). The specific focus of each case will be selected in consultation with partners and through stakeholder interviews/desk research. Bespoke research techniques will be chosen, for their applicability to each case example and suitability to address research questions agreed with partners. A key issue will be to examine how suppliers of innovative products and services identify business development opportunities and access care markets. The research will include expert interviews, focused observations (in visits to the premises of partners) and analysis of documents. Methods will be qualitative (e.g. in-depth interviews, focus groups) and quantitative (e.g. surveys/analyses of company data), as applicable; the Fellow will identify/engage other stakeholders to take part if appropriate. The findings will show how innovators, manufacturers and suppliers view/approach challenges in the technology-enabled care market. The Fellow will work with them to discover and implement new approaches to marketing and developing sustainable products for successful ageing in place, making information available to future start-ups entering the care technology marketplace in a new industry-focused toolkit.