This article presents findings from a follow-up survey designed to assess the impact of the first ESRC-funded Researcher Development Initiative (RDI) for social work. The data collected suggest that a large majority of respondents perceived substantial research-related benefits from attendance and a high rate of usage of methods in either research proposals or actual research projects. The benefits of networking and having an opportunity for clarification and reflection were widely reported across the programme as a whole. While this RDI programme can be seen as successful in providing a foundation on which to build further research capacity-building initiatives, reasons for limited benefit raise issues concerning the role of home institutions in fostering individual and collective research capacity. The authors argue the need for a ‘social practices model’ that underlines the importance of context and situated learning alongside more traditional methods of research training. A number of key leadership tasks for building research capacity are also discussed.