Dr Nick Axford

Expertise

Prevention and early intervention to improve child well-being

Biography

I joined PenARC in 2017. I work on a variety of projects concerned with evidence-based prevention and early intervention to improve child psychosocial outcomes, with a focus on service design and evaluation. I have undertaken studies involving a range of methods, including evidence reviews and randomised controlled trials, and covering a range of subject areas, such as bullying, child maltreatment, youth offending and social-emotional learning. I am particularly interested in forms of intervention that have the potential to achieve impact at scale, and in methods for developing and testing these – including co-production with users and the use of rapid cycle testing. I also enjoy engaging in debates about the value of evidence-based approaches in children’s services.

I am a Senior Associate of the Dartington Service Design Lab, a member of the board of the European Society for Prevention Research and a member of the evidence panels of the Early Intervention Foundation, the What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care and the Xchange online registry of evidence-based prevention programmes (hosted by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction).