Nikki is a Research Fellow and has been at the Rees Centre since its launch in 2012.
She has a PhD in Developmental Psychology, focusing on the perceptions of self and others and how this relates to peer relationships for children in care. At the Rees Centre she has used mixed methods and systematic review techniques to explore a range of topics relating to the support of children in care and children with a social worker. She is a co-founder of the Children’s Social Care Data User Group, and was also part of the Evaluation Coordinators team on Wave 1 of the DfE’s Children’s Social Care Innovations Programme. Her recent research has fallen under three main themes:
- Supporting the well-being of children in care and care leavers. A 3-year study funded by NIHR trialled a model of training, assessment and feedback that brought together foster carers and designated teachers to support the well-being of children in care across the home and primary school contexts. A current study funded by Become seeks to understand what ‘success’ means to care leavers, and how this might be measured.
- Improving educational outcomes for children in care and children in need. Two studies funded by the Nuffield Foundation explored how experiences in care and education are linked to GCSE outcomes; Nikki led the analysis of national datasets. She is now part of the team evaluating the extension of Virtual School Heads’ duties and the Pupil Premium Plus.
- Supporting local authorities to make the best use of data and other information to inform services for children and families. On the Nuffield-funded Children’s Information project Nikki is mapping how information is collected, collated, analysed and used, and works with sites to identify how this can be improved.
