Ann-Marie TowersAcademic

Biography

Ann-Marie Towers is Professor of Social Care and Deputy Director of the Health and Social Care Workforce Research Unit (HSCWRU) at King's College London, based at the Policy Institute, Melbourne House, Aldwych. She joined King's in September 2024 from the University of Kent, where she had been Professor of Social Care Research in the Centre for Health Services Studies, and she retains an honorary contract there as well as with the UK Health Security Agency. Between 2014 and 2024 she led an international programme to develop and disseminate the Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit (ASCOT), building collaborations across the UK, Scandinavia, Australia and Spain. She co-leads the NIHR-funded 'Care Work' Adult Social Care Workforce Research Partnership — a £5 million initiative examining labour supply, staff wellbeing, innovation in working conditions, and use of data and technology to improve workforce practices. She is a committee member of the NIHR Research Programme for Social Care and sits on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Primary Health Care Research and Development.

References

1. 1.Ann-Marie Towers | King's College London staff profile — Current role, title, move from University of Kent in September 2024, ASCOT programme, honorary contracts, editorial and advisory board memberships
2. 2.King's co-leads £5m investment into social care workforce research | KCL News — Co-leadership of the NIHR Care Work Partnership, its £5m value, and its four research themes
3. 3.£1.6m research to address value for money in home social care | KCL News — Co-applicant role and direct quote on publicly funded homecare research
4. 4.Connecting with the Unit | King's College London — HSCWRU office address and postcode (WC2B 4LL) and general enquiries email
5. 5.Project team — Care Work Research Partnership — Confirms co-lead role and Wellbeing theme lead for the Care Work Partnership

Expertise

Cited on

• Adult social care & reform

Stated areas of expertise

• Adult social care outcomes measurement
• Care workforce policy and sustainability
• Social care-related quality of life
• Homecare and care home research
• Research capacity building in social care
• Data and technology in care

Notable achievements

• Co-leads the £5 million NIHR-funded 'Care Work' Adult Social Care Workforce Research Partnership with the University of Leeds, announced October 2025. Source ↗
• Led a decade-long international programme (2014–2024) to develop and disseminate the Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit (ASCOT), with collaborators in the UK, Denmark, Finland, Australia, Spain, Norway and Sweden. Source ↗
• Co-applicant and sector engagement co-lead on a £1.6 million NIHR-funded study on value for money in home social care, announced January 2025. Source ↗
• Published a peer-reviewed study in BMJ Open (2025) on measuring care home residents' quality of life using digital social care records. Source ↗

What they’ve said

• “Research funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is currently exploring how employers can better attract and retain groups under-represented in care work, including younger people and men.”

  Professor of Social Care Research, King's College London · Adult social care & reform · 10 Aug 2026 · Social care reform must start with the workforce – here’s why ↗

Source references

1. Social care reform must start with the workforce – here’s whytheconversation.com · 10 Aug 2026

Contact & links

• Staff pagehttps://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/ann-marie-towers
• LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-marie-towers-a2388b33/
• Websitehttps://scholar.google.com/citations?user=a6fQU8sAAAAJ
• Press office emailhscwru@kcl.ac.ukpublished here ↗

Organisational contact points only, each taken from a page the organisation publishes itself. No personal or direct contact details are held or shown.