Examining the Nutritional, Environmental Trade-Offs Among Diets
RAND Europe, as part of a consortium with the University of Reading and ADAS, was commissioned by Dairyco and the Dairy Council to examine the trade-offs between the nutritional and environmental impacts of dairy diets. The aim is to compare the impacts of the dairy diet with various ideal type diets such as plant-based and Eatwell Plate diets.
RAND Europe has been commissioned to create and maintain the online European Platform for Investing in Children (EPIC). Reflecting the European Commission’s policy focus on children at risk, the EPIC will collect, evaluate, and disseminate practices that improve outcomes for children. RAND will apply a rigorous evaluation framework for the identification of effective, lasting, and transferable child policy practices in Europe.
The European Programme for Integration and Migration (EPIM) is a €3 million collaborative initiative of 12 major foundations to improve integration of and outcomes for migrants in Europe through advocacy, capacity-building and policy change. EPIM has asked RAND Europe to evaluate the achievements and impacts of their work in 2012-2015, to ensure accountability and enable learning that can be acted on during the course of the programme.
To provide accountability for public investment in research and produce evidence of the benefits of each investment, UK Higher Education Funding Councils will begin using a new Research Excellence Framework in 2014 to assess the quality and impact of a university's research before providing further funding. RAND Europe and Ranmore Consulting Group have developed the ImpactFinder and offer a package of services to help UK higher education institutions evaluate their research impact.
RAND Europe is evaluating the world's first Social Impact Bond (SIB), an innovative payment-by-results mechanism that allows private investors rather than government to fund public services which, if effective, will provide a return on this investment. Implemented in a prison in Peterborough in eastern England, this first SIB aims to reduce reoffending by prisoners who have served short custodial sentences. The evaluation, which will last up to eight years to allow post-release outcomes to be measured, has resulted in an initial set of lessons-learned from the SIB's planning and implementation.
RAND Europe undertook two surveys with civil servants in 14 countries in the CEEC and Balkans as part of a research project to explore the sustainability of civil service reform. It is the largest comparative survey of civil servants undertaken in the region. Additional RAND Europe internal funding will enable the research team to look in detail at governance issues in the region’s civil service, consolidate expertise and internal/external relationships, and contribute to academic thinking on this topic.
Examining Health and Safety in the European Workplace
RAND Europe is currently undertaking an analysis of the European Enterprise Survey (ESENER) on health and safety in the European workplace, for the European Health and Safety Agency (EU-OSHA). This work aims to understand the factors associated with the effective management of general occupational health and safety, as well as the specific management of psychosocial risks in enterprises.
The National Institute for Health Research established nine Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRCs) and has commissioned RAND Europe and the Health Economics Research Group at Brunel University to evaluate and learn from the CLAHRCs approach. The goal of the project is to focus on the gap in translating applied research advances into innovations in health and social care, for patient benefit.
Evaluation of Mental Health Peer Support Worker Programme
A programme launched by an NHS Trust in England equips a number of support workers with experience of mental illnesses themselves to aid the recovery of those affected by mental illness. RAND Europe is to provide an interim evaluation of the programme. The aim is to establish what impact the programme has had to date on peers and their teams, the people they support, and the wider organisation and to develop a framework that will enable continued monitoring of progress after the end of the project.
Some policy interventions are better able to change individual behaviour than others. RAND Europe, as part of the University of Cambridge Behaviour and Health Research Unit, is exploring whether contextual factors and the nature of evidence influence a policy’s acceptability and success. A Rapid Evidence Assessment by RAND focuses on four key behaviours relevant for current policy challenges: smoking, diet, physical activity and alcohol consumption.
RAND Europe is evaluating the Wellcome Trust's African Institutions Initiative. The initiative funds consortia to build sustainable, independent health research capacity at African universities and research organisations, to promote research collaboration and to train individuals for research careers in Africa. RAND Europe will evaluate the performance of research consortia and the initiative overall and will share learning about African-led and networked research capacity building models.
To understand better the challenges for businesses and Local Authorities participating in the Primary Authority Scheme—an effort to clarify regulations, reduce inconsistencies, and introduce effective dispute resolution mechanisms for businesses operating across multiple local authority boundaries—the Local Better Regulation Office has asked RAND Europe to review the costs and benefits of participation.
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