Starting Point evaluation: A journey from research to policy making

This slide deck provides an overview of the Starting Point evaluation and describes how research and practice were brought together to improve support for people facing homelessness in Doncaster. It introduces the Starting Point team, who work with individuals experiencing a combination of housing needs, health challenges, and social disadvantage. The presentation outlines the collaborative research journey between the embedded researcher and the service. It explains how plans and methods were coproduced, how trust was built, and how the embedded researcher model supported access to meetings, documents, and networks. This approach helped translate research into practice and strengthened links with policy making. The slides highlight shared learning across the research and practice teams, including greater understanding of research methods, increased confidence among practitioners, and stronger capacity for future research. They also show how findings have informed service improvement, strategic discussions, and policy development. The deck concludes with next steps that focus on applying the results to local policy, using practitioner expertise to shape methods, and continuing to explore new research opportunities.