Informing Policy and Decision Makers
SPECIALIST EVALUATION AND SOCIAL RESEARCH SERVICES
For more than 15 years, the University of Plymouth’s Social Research Unit (formerly SERIO) has been offering specialised evaluation and social research services to public, private, and third sector organisations. With a track record of over 500 projects and serving more than 250 international, national, regional, and local clients, our outputs are reliable, accessible, and easily utilised.
Our findings empower clients to make informed decisions and develop effective policy and strategy.
Key Strengths
Proven Track Record
With over 500 successful projects and more than 250 international, national, regional, and local clients, our outputs are reliable and readily applied.
Evidence led approach
We collaborate closely with our clients and their partners to provide evidence for the continuous improvement of systems and services.
Leaders in Independent Evaluation
Our agile approach, combined with up-to-date research methods, has established us as leaders in independent programme and service evaluation.
Specialist Areas
Academic Collaboration
As one of the teams in the Research and Innovation department at the University of Plymouth, the Social Research Unit collaborates with a diverse group of academic leaders from across the University, as well as both national and international experts. We take pride in the academic insights and partnerships that support our research.
Ethics
As employees of the University, maintaining and promoting the highest standards of integrity in our research is of the utmost importance. The University has an established set of fundamental principles to ensure all our research projects adhere to strict ethical codes of conduct.
The methods we adopt are chosen very carefully and in collaboration with clients to ensure protection of the vulnerable groups our clients’ support.
Promoting Best Practice
We work hand in hand with our clients to ensure that our research findings are widely disseminated, promoting best practice across the sector.
Public Engagement
Involving the public in the design and implementation of our research and evaluation stands as a cornerstone of the Social Research Unit's approach and is a central priority for our University.
We employ a diverse range of effective and innovative methods to capture the community voice. This ensures that our clients not only gain invaluable insights from the communities they aim to impact but also maximise the potential for their programmes to make meaningful and appropriate transformations in the lives of target populations.
Programme Impact
We strive for maximum impact by engaging stakeholders effectively and sharing our research findings strategically.
We work closely with our clients to identify programme impact, both intermediate and longer-term. This means that the research is used in a way that makes a real difference to society and the economy.
We collaborate with our clients to ensure that the research outputs reach the most appropriate audiences. This way, the research can help shape important policies and strategies.
Get in touch
We would love to hear from you and assist with any enquiries about how we can work together on future projects.
You can send us an email at sru@plymouth.ac.uk or fill in the form.
All of our team are contactable directly on the Team page.