In our work we aim to promote best practice in services to children and adults with intellectual disabilities.  We recognise that appropriate high quality research is a necessary pre-requisite to ensuring best practice in services development and delivery and in policy formulation.  Consequently the National Federation is committed to supporting the development of a strong research base within National Federation member organisations and initiating and collaborating in research relevant to the lives of people with intellectual disability.  In recognition of this the National Federation established the Research Sub-Committee in 2003. And in August 2008, the National Federation published its Research Strategy. The strategy aims to develop a positive environment of discovery and learning which will help people with intellectual disabilities, their families, the wider community, service managers, front-line staff, policy makers and researchers determine what is good practice.

In the research section of our website you will find many resources and information, such as:

• The 2010 research topic for the National Federation of Voluntary Bodies is Relationships & Quality of Service.  You can download the  Action Agenda for the 2010 topic here.

• The 2009 research topic for the National Federation is on Living Options for people with intellectual disabilities. Find out about the Residential Weekend held in July and about other initiatives on the Living Options Agenda for 2009.

• The Resource Section contains information on National Federation Designated Experts on 23 interest topics in intellectual disability research.  These experts can advise researchers, as well as providing the website with reading lists and links to up-to-date relevant information on their topic.

• The Research Sub-Committee has also developed research factsheets, guidelines and 'how to' sheets to provide support to individuals throughout member organisations who are undertaking research.

• Guidelines for Informing Families of their Child’s Disability, developed through a wide ranging consultation and research process,  is currently being implemented on a pilot basis in the Cork region, and this implementation will be evaluated to inform national roll out of the Guidelines.

• We are also involved in an Inclusive Research Network - a group of people who come together to do research or talk about research that is about people with intellectual disabilities.  This network is for anyone interested in this type of research e.g., people from services, self-advocacy groups, organisations, researchers and community groups. There are some examples of IRN Members' research done to date, as well as the National Survey 'Where We Live'.

• Our member organisations' database of research includes abstracts of research undertaken by our members and this section will be expanded over time.  If you have completed a piece of research since 2000 and would like to record it on our national database of intellectual disability research please download and complete this form.

• We are also involved in a number of collaborative research projects involving partnerships with external agencies.

The National Federation of Voluntary Bodies is also a member of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disability (IASSID).