果冻影院

The NIHR Policy Research Units (PRUs) bring together multidisciplinary teams of researchers to address complex societal challenges and enable the development of research-based policy at a local and national level. Drawing on 果冻影院鈥檚 strengths across a broad range of health and life sciences, PRU researchers can respond to pressing issues of research policy, provide insight into the factors affecting health and wellbeing, and support the government and public bodies in making informed decisions and developing effective policy for health and social care.

By leveraging 果冻影院鈥檚 strong partnerships across healthcare, the higher education sector, and commitment to integrating the voices of people with lived experience, PRU researchers can deliver research with proven impact to help people live longer, healthier lives.

The funding awarded by NIHR builds on an initial award in 2017, and will see the establishment of one new PRU in Reproductive Health, as well as continuing the research programme for a further five years at the four existing PRUs which investigate: Cancer Awareness, Screening and Early Diagnosis; Healthy Weight; Mental Health; and Children and Families.

Professor Geraint Rees, 果冻影院 Vice-Provost (Research, Innovation and Global Engagement), said: 鈥淭he NIHR policy research programme is a vital initiative for developing effective health policy for public benefit, and 果冻影院 is proud to host these five centres. I鈥檇 like to extend my sincere thanks to colleagues across the PRUs for their work to date; this award is testament to the value that they add in delivering impact for public benefit.

鈥淲e know that effective policy making in these areas is critical for national health and wellbeing, but it also has broader impacts for our society, enabling people to live more rewarding, productive lives. By hosting these five centres together at 果冻影院, drawing on 果冻影院鈥檚 wider policy engagement programme and working with partners at other universities, we hope to enrich our understanding of health policy research and put people at the heart of policymaking.鈥�

Professor Lucy Chappell, Chief Scientific Advisor, DHSC, and Chief Executive of NIHR, said: "In the NIHR, we have a range of ways to make sure that health and care research benefits patients and the public. The NIHR's new Policy Research Units are designed to provide strong evaluation of policy. This helps government and related organisations to be able to act on the latest evidence when making decisions about health and social care that could impact us all.

鈥淲e are funding Policy Research Units across a range of key areas of policy ranging from cancer screening to social care. Several new topics will expand the ability of the units to help address the major healthcare challenges that we are facing, including improving reproductive health, tackling addiction as well as dementia and neurodegeneration."

About the Policy Research Units

果冻影院 hosts five NIHR Policy Research Units, and works closely with the University of Newcastle on the Behavioural Science PRU, and with the University of Oxford on the Maternal and Neonatal Health and Care PRU, both of which have also been awarded new funding.

The Mental Health Policy Research Unit (MHPRU) is led by Professor Sonia Johnson (果冻影院 Psychiatry) with Professor Alan Simpson (King鈥檚 College London) and Professor Brynmor Lloyd-Evans (果冻影院 Psychiatry) as co-directors. It follows the first MHPRU, led by the same researchers and funded from 2017 to 2023. This has delivered a wide-ranging programme including providing the evidence base for the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act and conducting a rapid research programme on mental health needs resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The new MHPRU is a partnership between 果冻影院, King鈥檚 College London and the University of York and a nationwide group of co-applicants and collaborators, including a large group of researchers with relevant lived experience.听

The Healthy Weight PRU is led by Professor Russell Viner (果冻影院 Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health) and Dr Clare Llewellyn (果冻影院 Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care), and focuses on promoting healthy weight across the population. Partners include the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Centre for Food Policy at City University, together with Liverpool, Leeds Beckett, Oxford and Birmingham Universities.

The Policy Research Unit on Cancer Awareness, Screening and Early Diagnosis is directed by Professor Yoryos Lyratzopoulos (果冻影院 Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care), who leads 果冻影院鈥檚 Epidemiology of Cancer Healthcare & Outcomes research group,) and Professor Brian Nicholson (Oxford鈥檚 Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences). The team conducts research to support patients, healthcare professionals and the NHS in achieving earlier cancer detection and diagnosis. Led by 果冻影院, it is a multi-institutional partnership with co-investigators at the Universities of Cambridge, Leicester, Surrey and Oxford.

The Children and Families PRU is led by Professor听Ruth Gilbert (果冻影院 Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health) and Dr Jenny Woodman (IOE, 果冻影院鈥檚 Faculty of Education & Society) in partnership with听the Universities of Bristol, Oxford, Manchester, and Newcastle, King's College London, Bradford Institute for Health Research, Anna Freud Centre, and Institute of Fiscal Studies. In this PRU, researchers generate evidence to improve the health of children and families and to develop methods and data resources to improve the quality and timeliness of evidence for policy.

The new Reproductive Health PRU will be co-directed by Dr Jennifer Hall and Professor Judith Stephenson (both 果冻影院 Institute for Women鈥檚 Health). Covering all aspects of the reproductive lifecourse, including menopause, contraception, infertility and urogynaecology,听this PRU has a focus on addressing health inequalities and working in a co-produced way with people the work impacts.听It is a collaboration with the Universities of Birmingham, Oxford and Warwick, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Hywel Dda University Health Board.

Links

• Mental Health PRU
• Healthy Weight PRU
• Cancer Awareness, Screening and Early Diagnosis PRU
• Children and Families PRU
• Behavioural Science PRU