Established in 1963, we have a long track record of influencing national policy across social care, health, early years, education and youth justice. Known originally for groundbreaking studies of how these systems operated, over recent decades we have focussed more on advocating for evidence-based prevention and early intervention. 

We have a strong track record of influencing decision-making within local government, charities and philanthropy. We seek out forward-looking charities, local authorities and foundations in the UK and internationally willing to test out innovative approaches to research, policy development, service design and implementation that are grounded in science. We then strive to use our successful innovations to achieve impact at scale. Our 2014-15 Annual Report is here.

We have worked with numerous local authorities and places, including:

• Birmingham City Council to design a £42m early intervention strategy designed to improve outcomes while at the same time producing financial savings.
• A growing number of authorities in Scotland, including Perth and Kinross, Renfrewshire, Angus, Dundee and North Ayrshire.
• 19 authorities clustered in 15 places across England as part of the Big Lottery Fund’s ‘A Better Start’ programme.
• The US cities of Providence (Rhode Island) and Atlanta (Georgia).

We are beginning to re-visit work that helps practitioners better discern who can most benefit from interactions and available interventions, and are exploring how small changes in existing practices can benefit children and families. Our work with providers of children’s services includes:

• Realising Ambition. We are supporting 25 youth charities that are part of the Big Lottery Fund's Realising Ambition programme to refine and replicate innovative and evidence-based interventions.
• Family Nurse Partnership (FNP). We are part of the consortium delivering and scaling-up FNP, an evidence-based home visiting programme for vulnerable first-time young mothers and their babies.
• Safe Families for Children (SFFC). We are working in partnership to scale SFfC using a Public Social Partnership, an innovative contract between the provider and local authority that commits the purchaser to extend the contract on proof of specified outcomes.

Our work was also influential in the drafting of the Children Acts in 1989 and 2004, and in child protection policy more generally. We have been an important voice in national debates about investing more resource in evidence-based prevention and early intervention in children’s services, something we have advocated since the Unit was founded in the 1960s.

Our main office remains in Dartington, on a five-acre site by the River Dart, but we also have offices at Somerset House in London and at Robertson House in Glasgow.

The DSRU’s founding director, Royston Lambert, was succeeded by Spencer Millham and Roger Bullock. Previously co-directed by Michael Little and Louise Morpeth, it is now led by Chief Executive, Louise Morpeth.