A Short History of CRSP
Professor Sir Adrian Webb, then Head of the Department
of Social Sciences, founded the Centre in 1983. In the early years,
most of the Centre's funding came from the Department of Health through one of the UK's first major national policy evaluations,
of the Opportunities for Volunteering Programme. Following Professor
Robert Walker's appointment as Director in 1990, CRSP expanded both
its research interests and funding base, particularly in the fields
of social security research and, more generally, the interaction
between people's living standards and lifestyles. Also during this
period, the Unit for the Arts and Offenders was established within
CRSP under the direction of the late Anne Peaker and Dr Jill Vincent,
formerly Assistant Director. The Unit left CRSP in 1996 to establish
itself as a separate charity.
1996 also saw the establishment of the Department
of Social Security's core funded research unit within CRSP, under
Robert's direction and with Bruce Stafford as Assistant Director.
The Unit sat within a new programme of research on Welfare Institutions.
At the same time, Sue Middleton was charged with further developing
CRSP's other research interests under the banner of the Lifestyles
and Living Standards Programme. The Centre expanded rapidly during
the next few years, taking its funding base from only two funders
and 14 members of staff in 1995 to nine funders and 27 members of
staff in 2000.
In April 2000 Robert Walker left to become Professor of
Social Policy at Nottingham University, and Bruce and Sue took over
as Directors. The two research programmes were merged and CRSP's
work was re-organised around four themes, which served as the focus for CRSP's 21st Conference, held in September 2004. The
Centre has continued to build on its success, maintaining
and developing its reputation for leading large-scale national policy
evaluations for government, particularly the Department for Work
and Pensions and the Department for Children, Schools and Families, as well as more strategic
research funded by bodies such as the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Economic and Social Research Council. In February 2006 Bruce left CRSP to become Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Nottingham Policy Centre at Nottingham University. Alan France became Director from September 2006 to October 2010. Noel Smith is now Director of the Centre.
The strands of research at CRSP were revised to ensure that they continued to reflect the Centre's current research programme as well as the breadth of interests and expertise of the staff.
In 2006 Loughborough University was awarded a Queen's
Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education 2005.
CRSP Past, Present and Future 
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