Keynote Speaker: Professor Laurence Taggart, Professor of Implementation Science at Queen’s University Belfast
His Keynote Lecture is entitled: Embedding Evidence-Based Intellectual Disability Research into Healthcare Systems: The Role of Implementation Science Theories, Methods, and Frameworks
Abstract: Despite a growing body of evidence in intellectual disability research, a critical challenge persists: how can we effectively translate research findings into meaningful, sustainable changes across healthcare systems? Implementation science provides a systematic approach to addressing this gap, ensuring that evidence-based policies, interventions, and practices are not only disseminated but also successfully integrated into service delivery.
This keynote will examine the role of implementation science in facilitating the adoption, embedding, and sustainability of evidence-informed policies, interventions, and practices within healthcare services. By drawing on established theories, methodologies, and frameworks (such as Normalisation Process Theory, the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research, and the Hexagon Model), we will explore how these approaches can enhance organisational readiness, promote stakeholder engagement, and address contextual barriers to change.
Through an applied lens, this session will highlight the importance of co-production, interdisciplinary collaboration, and implementation strategies to ensure that research findings lead to tangible improvements in healthcare and service provision. By embedding implementation science principles into intellectual disability research, we can move beyond simply generating evidence to ensuring it underpins equitable access to healthcare policies, interventions, and services: thereby transforming lives.
Biographical information: Laurence Taggart is a nurse and psychologist who recently joined Queens University Belfast as Professor of Implementation Science. Prior to this, he spent over 20 years at Ulster University, where he held the position of Professor of Intellectual Disability Research and led the Centre for Neurodevelopmental and Intellectual Disabilities. His research primarily focuses on the health inequalities and inequities faced by individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in accessing healthcare services. He also has a keen interest in the development, testing, and implementation of interventions within complex healthcare systems.
Currently, Professor Taggart is the Chief Investigator (CI) on a major UK-based NIHR-funded RCT on a structured Type 2 diabetes education programme for adults with intellectual disabilities. Additionally, Laurence is Co-PI on five other NIHR-funded RCTs, all aimed at improving the outcomes for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and their carers. Over the course of his career, Laurence has secured more than £20 million in research funding and has published over 200 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters.
Laurence has held prominent roles in professional bodies, including the Royal Society of Medicine and the Royal College of Nursing, and served as an Expert Advisor to NICE on the needs of older adults with intellectual disabilities. He is currently an Executive Committee Member, and the Liaison Officer to the WHO, for IASSIDD. Laurence serves as Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities.
In recognition of his significant international contributions in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities research and practice, Laurence was awarded a distinguished Fellowship of IASSIDD.