A University of Stirling-led study into Scotland’s most vulnerable children has been named Research Project of the Year.
The Herald Higher Education Awards 2025, Radisson Blu hotel, Glasgow.Research Project of the Year. Winner is
University of Stirling Ð Permanently Progressing Building Secure Futures for Children
Ê Photograph by Colin Mearns
29 May 2025
The social scientists behind the study won a Herald Higher Education Award last night at a ceremony in Glasgow, beating off stiff competition from five other finalists from higher education institutions across Scotland.
Permanently Progressing? Building secure futures for children in Scotland is a study of more than 1,800 children looked after in Scotland. It was lauded by judges for its impact on social care policy and practice, and on the lives of care experienced children and young people.
Researchers on the longitudinal study, led by the University of Stirling in collaboration with Lancaster University, and the Association for Fostering, Kinship & Adoption Scotland (AFKA), have been looking at the lives of all 1,836 children who became looked after in Scotland aged five or under in 2012-13, tracking their progress from infant to adult.
The latest phase of the three-year study found that it took on average more than two years to find the children a permanent home, and that more than one in 10 were in temporary placements 10 years after becoming looked after.
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