How do we work with staff from the NHS and local authorities and academics in our area to ensure our research responds directly to their needs?

New ideas emerge all the time, and our Research Partnership Team (a seven strong multi-disciplinary group of researchers) collaborates with our partners to identify and progress new areas for research.

It works across the CLAHRC to develop research projects and activity with a focus on user needs.

The RPT works with our partners in health service delivery, design and commissioning as well the community and voluntary sector, Local Authorities and industry to turn important, tractable problems into research questions and ultimately, CLAHRC projects.

The team comprises academics with close links to, and direct experience of the NHS. The RPT consists of applied researchers, systematic reviewers and an experienced research facilitator. Specialisms covered by the team span statistics, health economics, qualitative research and evaluation.

The Team undertakes a rolling programme of sustained dialogue to further build relationships across our partners and develop an in-depth knowledge of the health care/public health community in which we operate.

The RPT, in combination with other CLAHRC initiatives (such as partner engagement activity, secondments of health professionals via our Fellowship Scheme and patient and public involvement) enable the identification of key problems on the ground which have widespread relevance for the NHS, patients and public health.

The RPT is helping to build an in-depth corporate ‘memory’ of the CLAHRC academic/NHS/LA community and research priorities and our responses to them, which will generate transferable methodological learning between and across projects.

Research Partnership Team: taking projects forward

The criteria the RPT use to decide if and how research ideas emanating from our partners in the NHS and public health are taken forward can be viewed in this diagram