Knowledge Mobilisation Fellows bring research into practice

Four Knowledge Mobilisation Fellows, based within the Geller Institute of Ageing and Memory have been appointed as part of a  £7.8 million investment from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) in the Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) in Northwest London (NWL).

The Fellows are the cornerstone of our three-year Knowledge Mobilisation programme, delivered in partnership with the NIHR ARC NWL at Imperial. Embedded in the local system, working within local health and care settings, the Fellows will collaborate with health and care practitioners and service users, mobilising research to transform services, improve care, and reduce health inequalities across the region.  

The goal is to reduce the time it takes to utilise research, to roll out effective evidence-based interventions and models of care to address high-priority regional and national challenges, and to maximise the impacts of research.

Multi-disciplinary working

The Fellows are drawn from a diverse range of professional backgrounds and are based within primary care, acute care, and local authority settings. They are working in collaboration to bring together researchers, practitioners, service managers, working across clinical and academic disciplines and with people with lived experience, in order to identify and address local health and care priorities.

Fellows are supported through capacity building training, support and mentoring to facilitate their knowledge mobilisation work, bringing research to practice, and helping practice inform research.

Professor Rowan Myron, Knowledge Mobilisation Co Lead NIHR ARC NWL, said: “We are really excited to see our Knowledge Mobilisation Fellows in post. Our fellows bring a real diversity of perspective and disciplinarity, this is already leading to rich discussions and impactful work for patients, Northwest London communities and health and social care professionals.”

Meet the Knowledge Mobilisation Fellows

Craig Holden is Senior Lead in Hammersmith & Fulham Council's Public Health Team. As a local authority commissioner, he focuses on social care, children and young people and, most recently, public health. He firmly believes that knowledge mobilisation is at its most effective, and most sustainable, when the process is led and informed by subject matter experts.

Julie Derwig is an Assistant Psychologist in Clinical Health Psychology at St Mary’s Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. She will be working with multidisciplinary teams and patients with long-term health conditions to bridge the gap between research and practice, supporting meaningful change in healthcare.

Lauren Trepte is Senior Midwife at Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust, where she leads the Women’s Health Research Team at the West Middlesex Hospital site. She is focused on embedding digital solutions to support women’s understanding of healthcare systems and reproductive health options.

Dr Sophie McFarland is a registered dietitian with extensive experience across acute, community, and primary care settings across a range of clinical specialities. She works at Healthcare Central London a federation of 32 General Practices in Westminster and aims to understand patient and clinician’s perspectives to align best-practice evidence with clinical delivery, and improve care quality.

A sustainable future

Knowledge Mobilisation is a fundamental way of working for both the Geller Institute of Ageing and Memory and the NIHR ARC NWL; it is embedded throughout our work and is essential to ensuring our research has maximum impact. The new Knowledge Mobilisation Fellows spearhead the bridging of the second translational gap, bringing research and practice closer.

Professor Katie Featherstone, Director of the Geller Institute of Ageing and Memory, said:

“We are really pleased to be working in partnership with our colleagues at Imperial to improve the health and social care for our communities in Northwest London. Our Fellows bring their passion, commitment and significant expertise to improve care and reduce health inequalities across the region”.

Dr Natalie Owen, Head of NIHR Research Infrastructure, said: “Ensuring that effective, evidence-based interventions and models of care reach people living with the greatest burden of disease is vital. This capacity and capability building initiative will enable the ARCs to support work at the interface of research and practice for population benefit.”

Find out more

If you are interested in Knowledge Mobilisation and want to learn more, contact Prof. Rowan Myron ( rowan.myron@uwl.ac.uk )

Pictured above (L - R):

Dr Laura Lennox, Nick Hewlett, Dr Ben Holden, Dr Sophie McFarland, Lauren Trepte, Julie Derwig, Craig Holden, Prof. Rowan Myron and Professor Katie Featherstone