Projects per year
Personal profile
Experience
Mark is Professor of Health and Care Policy and Director of the Welsh Institute for Health and Social Care at the University of South Wales.
Since 2008 at WIHSC, he has undertaken more than 100 specialist research studies and evaluative reviews and gained considerable experience of managing and delivering complex and sensitive studies specifically in health and social care, and across the public sector in the UK. He has developed an expertise in applied research and evaluation methodologies and his work is focused on providing a robust and independent evidence-base in all of WIHSC’s work.
Mark graduated from University of Wales Swansea with both BA and PhD, and was a Lecturer there for two years. He worked for four years as Head of Qualitative Research at a social research company, before joining WIHSC in April 2008. Mark’s work has centred on the application and implementation of health and social care policy in practice, and the evidence of its effectiveness. This has involved the evaluation of interventions and innovative working practices in health and care and understanding the impact of the voice and control of service users across health and social care. He is also interested in the role and influence of the third sector in care, well-being and health, and the influence that independent, academic evidence has on policy at a national level.
He has authored more than 100 reports which have directly impacted upon policy decisions within the public sector, and has published numerous academic papers in journals relevant to the fields of social care, planning and health.
More detail about Mark can be found here.
Research interests
Mark has developed an expertise in applied research and evaluation methodologies and his work is focused on providing an evidence-base upon which decisions around policy and practice across health, social care and the third sector can be taken. The focus for Mark over the last decade and more working in this field is the connection between evidence and policy, and the positive contribution that independent research and evaluation data can make. There are a number of key themes which connect the different projects and programmes Mark has worked on:
- Applying evidence to the practice of national policy making across health and social care;
- Rethinking the relationship between the citizen and the state;
- Leadership and influence through the production of accessible, evidential research reports;
- Role of the third sector in delivering and influencing health and social care;
- Evaluating outcomes for service users, patients and the public; and
- Service evaluation, results based accountability and mixed methodologies
Expertise
Mark has been appointed to a number of roles, boards and groups to support the work of the sector, using his skills, knowledge and expertise:
- Wales Trustee and Chair of Wales Advisory Board, Carers Trust – August 2023 onwards
- Working Group Member, Independent Living Social Care, Disability Rights Taskforce, Welsh Government – October 2022 to July 2023
- Ministerial Appointment as Expert Group Member and Sub-Group Chair (Citizen Voice), National Care Service for Wales, Welsh Government – February to October 2022
- Board Member, Third Sector Research Partnership – July 2022 onwards
- Expert Reference Group Member, Social Care Research, Health and Care Research Wales – June 2022 onwards
- Commissioning Panel Member, ESRC Policy Fellowships – August 2021 onwards
- Member, IMPACT Assembly Wales – July 2021 onwards
- Advisory Group Member, ExChange Wales Adult Social Care Advisory Group, Cardiff University – May 2021 onwards
- Sounding Board Member, Engage Britain on the future of health and social care – January 2021 onwards
- Appointed Member, Welsh Government COVID-19 Stabilisation and Reconstruction Board: Social Care and Integration – July to November 2020
- Member, Carers Trust Wales Research, Policy and Engagement Advisory Group – November 2019
- Steering Group Member, Measuring the Mountain, Welsh Government – June 2019 to January 2021
- Multidisciplinary Stakeholder Lead and Executive Board member, PRIME Centre Wales – November 2018
- Editorial Board Member, EnvisAGE, the journal of Age Cymru – September 2018 onwards
- Advisor, Central Research Committee, Disability Research on Independent Living and Learning (DRILL) – October 2017-April 2020
- Wales Representative, Expert Reference Group on Options for Funding the NHS and Social Care, for Rand Europe – July 2017-April 2018
- Independent Member, Clinical Ethics Committee, Cwm Taf University Health Board – January 2017 onwards
- Trustee and Board Member, Wales Council for Voluntary Action – November 2015 onwards (Vice Chair of Audit and Risk Committee, January 2021 onwards)
- Member, Welsh Advisory Group, Disability Research on Independent Living and Learning (DRILL) – September 2015-April 2020
- Appointed Member, All Wales Academic Social Care Collaborative, Welsh Government (Social Services Directorate) – June 2013-August 2015
Education/Academic qualification
Geography, plannng and health, PhD
Sept 1998 → Aug 2002
Geography, BA (Hons), Swansea University
Sept 1995 → Jun 1998
External positions
Wales Trustee and Chair of Wales Advisory Board, Carers Trust
14 Aug 2023 → …
Working Group Member, Independent Living Social Care, Disability Rights Taskforce, Welsh Government
Oct 2022 → …
Expert Reference Group Member, Social Care Research, Health and Care Research Wales
Jun 2022 → …
Ministerial Appointment Expert Group Member and Sub-Group Chair (Citizen Voice), National Care Service for Wales, Welsh Government
Feb 2022 → Oct 2022
Commissioning Panel Member, ESRC Policy Fellowships, Economic and Social Research Council
Aug 2021 → …
Health and Care Sounding Board Member, Engage Britain
Jan 2021 → …
Multidisciplinary Stakeholder Lead and Executive Board member, PRIME Centre Wales
Nov 2018 → …
Advisor, Central Research Committee, DRILL - Disability Research on Independent Living and Learning
Oct 2017 → …
Wales Representative, Expert Reference Group on Options for Funding the NHS and Social Care, RAND Europe
Jul 2017 → …
Independent Member, Clinical Ethics Committee, Cwm Taf University Health Board
Jan 2017 → …
Trustee, Board Member and Company Director, Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA)
Nov 2015 → …
Appointed Member, All Wales Academic Social Care Collaborative, Welsh Assembly Government
Jun 2013 → Aug 2015
Academic Facilitator, Community of Scholars, RCBC Wales
Mar 2012 → May 2015
Associate Member, Cardiff University, WISERD
1 Jun 2010 → …
Fingerprint
- 1 Similar Profiles
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Projects
- 1 Active
-
Torfaen Health Determinants Research Unit
Wallace, C., Davies, M., Mathieson, I., Saltus, R., Underwood-Lee, E., Llewellyn, M., Bale, S., Daszkiewicz, T., Vale, J., Evans, B., Webster, N., Wright, J., Bourne, S., Cooke, G. & Leech, D.
1/01/24 → 31/12/29
Project: Research
-
What is the economic evidence for the contribution of the voluntary sector in preventing use of the health and care system? PROSPERO 2025 CRD420251016775
Spencer, L., Tetlow, S., Llewellyn, M. & Wallace, C., 7 Apr 2025, PROSPERO.Research output: Working paper › Systematic Review
Open Access -
Co-constructing a practitioner-led approach to understanding multi-professional working across health and care: the Development Matrix for Integration (DMI)
Llewellyn, M., Wallace, C., Randall, S., Cusens, C. & Phipps, K., Apr 2024.Research output: Contribution to conference › Poster › peer-review
Open Access -
Preventative Social Care and Community Development in Wales: “New” Legislation, “Old” Tensions?
Read, S., Verity, F., Llewellyn, M., Calder, G. & Richards, J., 25 Jan 2024, In: Social Inclusion. 12, 18 p., 7448.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile40 Downloads (Pure) -
Social Prescribing in Wales
Wallace, C., Newstead, S., Wallace, S., Lynch, M., Elliott, M., Llewellyn, M. & Randall, S., 14 Mar 2024, Social Prescribing Policy, Research and Practice: Transforming Systems and Communities for Improved Health and Wellbeing. Bertotti, M. (ed.). Springer, p. 65-84 19 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
-
Social Return on Investment (SROI) of integrated health and social care programmes within the national evaluation of the Regional Integration Fund (RIF) across Wales
Spencer, L. H., Lynch, M., Llewellyn, M. & Wallace, C., 4 Dec 2024.Research output: Contribution to conference › Poster › peer-review
Activities
- 1 Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar
-
All Wales Social Prescribing Network
Carolyn Wallace (Chair), Judith Stone (Chair), Emma Davies (Member), freya Davies (Member), Mark Griffiths (Member), Joyce Kenkre (Member), Mark Llewellyn (Member), Mary Lynch (Member), David Pontin (Member), Glynne Roberts (Member), Steven Smith (Member), Sara Thomas (Member), Soo Vinnicombe (Member) & Sarah Wallace (Lecturer)
5 Jan 2018 → 31 Mar 2019Activity: Other › Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar
File
Press/Media
-
Evaluation of the Neighbourhood District Pilots in Wales
Carolyn Wallace, Mark Llewellyn, Sarah Wallace, Lisa Griffiths, Siva Ganesh, Joyce Kenkre & David Pontin
25/11/20
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Research