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Powell's work focuses on outcomes after traumatic brain injury. In 1995 she established an innovative community-based multidisciplinary neurorehabilitation service — the Outreach Team — and evaluated it via a randomised controlled trial. The positive findings have informed policy and service developments internationally. In parallel, she developed a new outcome instrument [the BICRO] to evaluate psychosocial functioning; this is now used by clinicians in 10+ countries. The BICRO informed the subsequent development and validation of a cross-cultural instrument for assessing quality of life after brain injury [the QOLIBRI]; Powell was a member of the Steering Group which directed the complex international collaborative QOLIBRI project. The QOLIBRI is now available in many languages, and has been fully validated in six. There are 400+ registered users in over 35 countries, more than 200 being clinical service providers; it is a formally recommended tool for public health services in Finland and the US; and it is being used as an outcome measure in numerous treatment evaluations and prospective studies worldwide.
Professor Dieter Wolke has led several research programmes that delineate the long-term health effects of prenatal exposure to stress and moderate/late preterm, very preterm, and extremely preterm birth. His research has had a direct impact on international medical guidelines and educational recommendations for babies born preterm. The research has also informed European political debate (via a White Paper for the European parliament) on healthcare policy related to after care for preterm or sick children; has influenced UK policy regarding the education of children born preterm; and has contributed to public and practitioner understanding through media items issued, for example, by the NHS and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
The research of Professor Mark De Ste Croix has begun to question well-established practice in injury prevention and has proposed a change in focus that is directly related to fatigue resistance. The research has led to new approaches to injury prevention for young athletes that are specific to growth and that do not simply adopt adult models. The three constituencies upon which the research has had impact are:
(i) Enriching and informing practice of national (The Football Association), European (UEFA) and World (FIFA) governing bodies of sport;
(ii) Informing and changing the pre-habilitation practices of physiotherapists, sports scientists, strength and conditioning specialists, coaches, and medical professionals for youth footballers;
(iii) Reducing injury risk and incidence in youth footballers.
The Greenwood Institute of Child Health is a unique collaboration between the University and public service providers such as the NHS, which aims to improve psychological outcomes for children in high-risk settings. From 1993 to 2013, Greenwood's research has highlighted the increased risk of mental health, drug dependence and criminal activity among children who suffer trauma — through abuse, living in care, homelessness or war. Greenwood's programme of research has identified the complex and persistent needs of vulnerable children and contributed to changes in policy guidelines and service provision across social care in the UK (foster care / adoption, juvenile detention and homelessness) and abroad (war). Collaboration between researchers at the Greenwood Institute, service providers and practitioners has been instrumental in the establishment of clinically relevant and cost-effective care pathways, while community engagement has led to improved service provision and outcomes for vulnerable children and their families / carers in the UK and further afield.
Prior to King's College London (KCL) research, social workers did not regularly assess mental health needs of Looked After Children (i.e. those in the care of their Local Authority). KCL investigations showed that 45% of British Looked After Children have mental health disorders, considerably pushing this issue up the policy agenda. KCL developed assessments that are now the statutory annual measures used by all Local Authority children's services in England. The assessments enable Local Authorities to identify the treatment needs of Looked After Children and plan accordingly. The Department for Education requires Local Authorities to complete the measures. The measures are used worldwide and are now key elements of treatment trials of social and psychological interventions to reduce the level of difficulties in Looked After Children.