My friend and colleague Martin Stevens, who has died aged 57 from Covid-related complications, was a senior research fellow at the health and social care workforce research unit at King’s College London for the past 18 years. During his career Martin chaired the UK Social Services Research Group and the Health Research Authority social care research ethics committee, in which roles he contributed much to developing ethics and governance in social care research. At his death he was chair of the Good Mental Health Co-operative committee as well as being an adviser to the National Institute for Health Research’s research design service. Martin was born in Duffield, Derbyshire, to Jill (nee Roberts), a teacher, and Paul Stevens, an educational psychologist. He went to the Arnewood school in New Milton, Hampshire, and then was educated at the universities of Southampton, where he studied philosophy as an undergraduate, and Surrey and Portsmouth, where he gained his PhD. He began his career as a residential services officer for Hampshire county council’s social services department, before becoming a research officer in the department in 1992. He was appointed as a research fellow at King’s College in 2004 and was made senior fellow 10 years later. Martin was loved as well as respected by colleagues. He had an exceptional ability to analyse complex problems from various perspectives, helping to provide valuable insights for health practitioners, managers and policymakers with clear and well-considered recommendations. I worked with him at King’s College and his kindness, generosity, sense of fun and good humour made him a wonderful colleague. Throughout most of his adult life Martin lived with chronic health problems after kidney failure, which led to years of dialysis and three kidney transplants: experiences that led him to develop a deep insight into, and empathy for, the needs of other health and care service users. His death is a huge loss to those who knew him, as well as the wider social care research community to which he contributed so much. Martin met Alison Heywood, an information governance specialist, in 2000, when they were working together at Hampshire county council, and they married in 2013. She survives him, as do his older sister, Linda, and younger brother, Seb.