About the Centre for Health and Clinical Research

Vision

The Centre’s vision is to conduct excellent research and support its broad application to benefit the health and wellbeing of individuals and society.

Achieving the vision

Our research is delivered through five clinical themes:

• ACTIoN (Assessment, Care and Treatment in Neurology)
• Emergency Care
• MAMBO (Musculoskeletal Management, Measurement, Behaviour Change and Outcomes)
• SPACE (Supportive, Palliative and End of Life Care)
• Workforce 

Our research spans the generations encompassing children, young people and families as well as older adults.  Crucially, our research themes are underpinned by active patient and public involvement.   

Our research informs national and international health policy and guidelines with knowledge mobilisation and evaluation as core activities.  Examples of our impact include: 

• the self-management of fatigue in rheumatoid arthritis
• measurement of outcomes that are important to patients in rheumatic conditions and chronic regional pain syndrome
• management of chronic joint pain through exercise and self-management
• airway management during cardiopulmonary resuscitation for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest
• neonatal temperature measurement and management in pre-hospital birth
• transforming the cancer workforce
• improving support for people with dementia and their families and reducing inequalities in access to dementia services
• standardising language assessment in awake brain surgery.

In addition, we are leading several multi-centre national and international projects, including:

• Same day and Urgent Care (SURGE) Workforce Research – a five-year programme that aims to fully understand the complex issues associated with staff shortages in same day urgent care and produce meaningful findings that can be put into practice quickly and effectively to address workforce challenges.
• clinical and cost-effectiveness of implementing a digital self-management intervention into musculoskeletal clinical pathways – the project aims to assess if using an app can improve pain and ability to engage with daily activities for people with back pain and offers the NHS good value for money. 
• NIHR INSIGHT Scheme - The purpose of this three-year project is to attract students in registered healthcare, social work and public health professions (not including doctors and dentists) into the full range of research careers.

Our aims

The Centre has a number of related aims that we address through our implementation plan. We aim to:

• focus on our areas of research excellence with impact, which address local, national and international health priorities and ensures long-term sustainability of the Centre.
• ensure our talented early career researchers and post graduate research students are well placed to lead future research excellence.
• make a positive contribution to the student learning experience and their employability.
• continue to build national and international collaborations to enable research excellence and facilitate impact.

Centre Director

Professor Fiona Cramp