Mark is Professor of Health and Care Policy and Director of the Welsh Institute for Heath and Social Care at the University of South Wales. Over the past twelve years at WIHSC, he has undertaken more than seventy-five 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:
http://wihsc.southwales.ac.uk/staff/markllewellyn/

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