Public Health Research programme
Welcome to the PHR Newsletter
October 2009
 A warm welcome from Phil Taverner,
Assistant Director for Public Health Research, NETSCC
Welcome to the first newsletter of the Public Health Research (PHR) programme which marks its first anniversary. The programme was set up as part of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) in support of the 2006 Cooksey review which identified the need for more public health research.
The PHR programme is managed from the NIHR Evaluation, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre (NETSCC), part of the University of Southampton School of Medicine. It sits alongside a number of other NIHR research programmes that are managed from the same centre. Its Programme Director is Professor Catherine Law of the UCL Institute of Child Health.
The programme’s job is to fund research into interventions outside the NHS aimed at improving public health and reducing health inequalities. We cover all four countries in the UK and have an annual budget of £10 million to pay for research costs related to a very wide range of interventions - many will, in practice, be delivered from local authorities or voluntary sector organisations.
The scope of the PHR programme is multi-disciplinary and broad. Our customers, those interested in the outcome of the research, are likely to be anybody running a service that has the potential to impact positively on public health and/or to reduce health inequalities as well as academics. This could include people working in the fields of housing, transport, urban regeneration or climate change for example, as well as those more usually associated with public health, such as alcohol, tobacco or mental health. These lists are not exhaustive by any means; we hope that one of the things that this newsletter will do is to keep people up to date with the range of projects being funded to give a clearer idea of the actual scope as the programme develops.
We rely on two boards of experts to ensure that the research funded is both relevant to practitioners and decision makers and of the highest scientific quality. We also rely heavily on other experts to contribute in a variety of ways and this is where you may come in. If you think that you can help by, say,
or in any other way, please feel free to make use of the links in the right hand column or contact the PHR team.
Funded projects
Our Research Funding Board, at its first meeting in May 2009, approved funding for the three projects listed below:
- 09/3001/06: The Health impacts of the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway.
Project lead - Dr David Ogilvie, MRC Epidemiology Unit.
- 09/3001/09: Reducing alcohol-related harm in disadvantaged men: development and feasibility assessment of a brief intervention delivered by mobile phone.
Project lead - Professor Iain Crombie, University of Dundee.
- 09/3001/19: Does the Royal Horticultural Society Campaign for School Gardening increase intake of fruit and vegetables in children?
Project lead - Professor Janet Cade, University of Leeds.
The first three projects funded highlight the variety of subjects that the PHR programme considers to be within its remit. Further details will be available from the PHR programme website when the projects start.
Intervention costs
Researchers can apply to the PHR programme for funding to cover the research costs of their proposed evaluations. There are no limits on the amount researchers can apply for, provided value for money can be demonstrated to our Research Funding Board.
The programme does not, however, cover the cost of the interventions being evaluated. Some interventions may already be up and running, such as new transport schemes or urban regeneration initiatives, or projects may already be planned for by local authorities or NGOs. For other interventions which do not have funding secured, we encourage researchers to form partnerships for their projects. Funding for intervention costs can come from a number of sources including voluntary organisations and charitable grant providers.
Commissioned workstream
The PHR programme's commissioned workstream was launched in July 2009 to complement the already established researcher-led workstream. The first two commissioning briefs advertised focused on injecting drug use and the mental wellbeing of older people. These calls for research closed on 9 September 2009; the received proposals were assessed by the Research Funding Board in October 2009.
The public health questions and topics we advertise are generated from a variety of sources that highlight gaps in knowledge. Anyone can suggest a question or topic that they feel requires further research via our online form.
Subject to the outcome of the 4 November Programme Advisory Board, the next commissioning briefs will be advertised in November 2009 with a closing date for proposals in March 2010. Sign up to receive our RSS news feed and receive an instant update when new funding opportunities arise.
Researcher-led workstream
The researcher-led workstream has been running since the launch of the PHR programme in October 2008. Unlike the commissioned workstream, the researcher-led workstream accepts proposals evaluating non-NHS interventions of your choice intended to improve the health of the public and reduce inequalities in health. Outline proposals can be submitted at any time during the year, with three cut-off dates when applications within remit will be considered by the Programme Advisory Board.
September 2009 saw the third cut-off date of 2009. A total of 87 applications were received in 2009 via the researcher-led workstream, with 64 of those considered within the programme's remit.
The next researcher-led cut-off date is 11 January 2010 by 1pm.
Potential applicants should visit the PHR programme's funding opportunities webpage for further information and guidance.
Obesity themed call
The Public Health Research programme is launching a joint themed call with the Health Technology Assessment programme for obesity evaluation research on 10 November 2009. The launch of this call recognises the Office for the Strategic Co-ordination of Health Research priority for further obesity research and Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: A cross-government research and surveillance plan for England, published in 2008.
The call is open to well-designed evaluation studies, including randomised controlled trials, pilot and feasibility studies, and evidence syntheses.
The PHR programme evaluates public health interventions delivered in non-NHS settings and the HTA programme evaluates interventions in the NHS. Please visit www.netscc.ac.uk/obesity to find out more about the remit of the call and the two programmes; and how to apply.
The deadline for receiving all applications is 1pm on Wednesday 20 January 2010.
Refereeing
The PHR programme requires referees at various stages of our funding process. Referees advise the Research Funding Board on the quality and relevance of proposals and, when projects are complete, referees will peer-review draft final reports.
Since the PHR programme commenced in October 2008, we have been keen to give the best possible support to refereeing and have been establishing a database of potential referees, defined by their subject expertise. We always aim to match the referees’ preferred areas of interest as closely as possible with the work of the programme.
Our programme is also keen to increase public/practitioner involvement in order to help determine which research is important. This means involving people who have a particular interest in public health, perhaps because they have been affected by public health initiatives, or have a specific health issue.
We would like to thank all those who have helped us in our two refereeing rounds. We greatly appreciate their time and expertise.
If you are interested in becoming a PHR programme referee please visit the 'get involved' page on our website.
Public health research beyond the Public Health Research programme
The NIHR Evaluation, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre (NETSCC) manages five evaluation research programmes on behalf of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The Public Health Research programme is one of these, but research in support of public health is an important part of the remit of all five programmes and accounts for a significant fraction of the total spend.
Programmes managed by NETSCC that fund research in support of public health:
What do we mean by research to support public health?
Research that:
- Evaluates NHS interventions (such as smoking cessation) targeted at individuals at higher risk of future ill-health to reduce their risk
- Evaluates NHS interventions (such as screening) aimed at identifying those with early stage asymptomatic disease where early treatment improves prognosis
- Evaluates interventions (such as school-based healthy eating interventions) delivered outside the NHS applied at a population level to promote health
- Assesses public health and preventive NHS services in relation to the organisation and delivery of healthcare and/or with the aim of improving service quality and patient safety
For example:
- Evaluating the impact of introducing free bus travel on public health (PHR programme)
- Evaluating the efficacy of a psychological intervention to increase physical activity in obese and overweight adults (EME programme)
- Public health governance and primary care delivery (SDO programme)
- Development and ongoing refinement of a triage tool for the use of critical care services during the H1N1 swine influenza pandemic (HTA programme)
For more information
Please see www.netscc.ac.uk/publichealth or contact us at info@netscc.ac.uk
*The EME programme is funded by the Medical Research Council and managed by NETSCC.
Events and important dates
Conferences
Please email info@phr.nihr.ac.uk if you would like to arrange to meet one of the team at a conference or event.
| Date |
Conference |
Who will be there? |
| 12-13 November 2009 |
Faculty of Public Health Scottish Annual Conference
Peebles, Scotland |
Imogen Stephens
Gemma House
Rebecca Moran |
| 24-25 March 2010 |
UKPHA
Bournemouth |
Phil Taverner
Elaine Williams |
| 6-8 July 2010 |
Local Government Association
Bournemouth |
tbc |
NIHR Roadshows
Including seminars and 'market place' stands. For more information visit the NIHR Regional Research Conferences page.
| Date |
Region |
Roadshow Venue |
| 6 November 2009 |
East of England |
Sopwell House
St Albans |
| 23 November 2009 |
South East Coast |
The Grand Hotel
Brighton |
| 27 November 2009 |
South Central |
Madejski Stadium
Reading |
Important dates
| Date |
Activity |
| 4 November 2009 |
Programme Advisory Board |
| 11 January 2010 |
Researcher-led Call Close |
| 20 January 2010 |
Obesity Themed Call Close |
| March 2010 (date tbc) |
Commissioned Call Close |
| 24-25 February 2010 |
Research Funding Board |
| 3 March 2010 |
Programme Advisory Board |
| 23-24 June 2010 |
Research Funding Board |
| 7 July 2010 |
Programme Advisory Board |
| 13-14 October 2010 |
Research Funding Board |
| 10 November 2010 |
Programme Advisory Board |
Contact us
Please tell us what you think about our newsletter. We welcome your suggestions about items to include in future editions.
Please email us at info@phr.nihr.ac.uk if you would like to unsubscribe from the PHR programme newsletter mailing list. |
PHR News Feed