Racism pervades social research and design. As a social research organisation, we at Dartington Service Design Lab have been reflecting on how we perpetuate racism and inequality – but also how we can challenge it.

Rapid-cycle design and testing tackles these problems: it empowers those who are delivering a service to asks the questions they care about, to find the answers themselves, and decide what the implications of those answers are.

At Dartington Service Design Lab, we think about evidence as data or information – ideally from multiple sources – that is synthesised and critically appraised to inform better decision-making.

In 2015, the Lambeth Early Action Partnership (LEAP) became one of five local partnerships forming part of A Better Start—a ten-year national programme funded by the National Lottery Community Fund. Now, a decade on, Dartington Service Design Lab is proud to present the findings from a comprehensive programme evaluation.

The Toolkit is a resource to support local communities to develop an evidence-informed, co-designed strategy to improve children’s early learning outcomes. 

Using rapid-cycle design and testing, we partnered with Chance UK to improve the design, implementation and continuous monitoring of the My Future programme: a 9-month mentoring programme delivered to children aged 5-11 years who live in Camden and Southwark.

This online portal contains data gathered from areas across Scotland who have implemented the ChildrenCount Wellbeing Survey capturing the needs of children and young people via self-report and parent-report.

As part of our commitment to sustainable and participatory approaches to evidence, we wanted to promote the learning from the work co-designed by our three Community Researchers living and working in Lambeth, working with us to evaluate the Lambeth Early Action Partnership (LEAP) systems change project.

Using this method helps unpick complex, place-based systemic problems and can support tailoring services to better serve communities. We are sharing these insights to support others in the research and evaluation community who are thinking about or already undertaking community-led research, particularly in the early years sector.

In 2023, Dartington Service Design Lab joined forces with the four UK leading children and young people’s cancer charities to create a shared, evidence-based understanding of what was needed to build a better future for children and young people with cancer.

This insight summary seeks to deepen our understanding of how to progress transformational change programmes. It builds upon decades of experience trying to achieve systemic change in children's services.

The Youth Endowment Fund Learning Partner has written this Insights Brief to support organisations adapting their work with young people during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly those living in difficult circumstances and who might be at risk of becoming involved in crime and violence.

The Youth Endowment Fund Learning Partner has written this Insights Brief to support organisations adapting their work with young people during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly those living in difficult circumstances and who might be at risk of becoming involved in crime and violence.

Developed by the Youth Endowment Fund Learning Partner, this Insights Brief covers the changes your organisation can make and the ways you can work with others to support young people at risk of becoming involved in crime and violence through this crisis.

When the pandemic hit, service providers were needed more than ever. Unable to rely on their normal means of reaching the communities they serve, the search for digital solutions began. As did the question of how to tackle the complex need of digital inclusion, for those without devices, data or digital skills.

Five years after beginning the FNP ADAPT project – an ambitious pilot attempting to adapt the way FNP is delivered in the UK - we are pleased to share the final report with all our many learnings and recommendations. The report showcases the many stages of our rapid-cycle and testing methodology, with particular attention being paid to the clinical and 
programme adaptations, as well as the evaluation stage.