Job title: Patient and Public Volunteer Contributor

Who you are representing on the board (organisation / group): Volunteer member of the West Midlands Clinical Research Network Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement in Research Team

Why the Progression Plan is important to you: A successful Progression Plan requires research to improve health and care for the region and to succeed, there needs to be a strong public voice and real involvement and engagement with all our communities through dialogue, consultation and mutual respect.

Progression Plan projects I am supporting:

• Reach Under-served Communities (Community Engagement and Equalities Theme)

Email: anne.devrell@nihr.ac.uk

Job title: Chief Operating Officer

Who you are representing on the board (organisation / group): Clinical Research Network West Midlands

Why the Progression Plan is important to you: Working together in partnership is paramount to improving our ability to deliver research opportunities for the population. We often come across strategic issues that hinder our capabilities and the Progression Plan provides a platform for all stakeholders to come together and work collaboratively to overcome and address these, with everyone's input and voice being heard.

Progression Plan projects I am supporting:

• Engaging with the wider health and care workforce to be research active and developing researchers of the future 

Email: carly.craddock@nihr.ac.uk

Job title: Head of Research Governance and Integrity 

Who you are representing on the board (organisation / group): University of Birmingham

Why the Progression Plan is important to you: In my role as Sponsor Representative for the University of Birmingham I would like to ensure effective collaborative approaches for research activity. The work on the Programme Board enables me to understand and shape the work of the Clinical Research Network West Midlands by working closely with stakeholders, responding to strategic / operational priorities.

Job title: Head of Keele School of Medicine / Director of National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) School for Primary Care Research

Who you are representing on the board (organisation / group): NIHR School for Primary Care Research, Keele University 

Why the Progression Plan is important to you / your organisation: The pandemic has highlighted the critical importance of research in health and care systems. The Progression Plan provides us with the opportunity to think differently, working across traditional boundaries to ensure that our research really meets the needs of those receiving health and social care.

Progression Plan projects I am supporting:

• RAising the Profile of Research within Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) Across the West Midlands (RAPRICS)

• Improve integration of research at a Primary Care level

Email: c.d.mallen@keele.ac.uk 

Job title:  Director of Research and Innovation

Who you are representing on the board (organisation / group):  Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.  I am also Deputy Chair of the Clinical Research Network West Midlands (CRN WM) Race, Diversity and Inclusion Research Group and lead on CHART: The Community Healthcare Alliance of Research Trusts

Why the Progression Plan is important to you / your organisation: The Progression Plan is important because it is breaking down barriers and has stimulated a new way of working that fosters system wide networks to make the CRN WM an exciting and thriving place to collaborate and generate new research ideas.

Progression Plan projects I am supporting:

• Reach Under-served Communities (Community Engagement and Equalities Theme)

Email: christine.burt2@nhs.net

Job title:  Communications Lead

Who you are representing on the board (organisation / group):  Clinical Research Network West Midlands Comms Team 

Why the Progression Plan is important to you / your organisation: The Progression Plan is important to me because it represents the future way of working collaboratively in our region, to make it a place where research and innovation thrive.

Progression Plan projects I am supporting:

• Embrace the opportunities COVID has created

Email: claireanne.hall@nihr.ac.uk

Job title: Director for Primary Care and Integrated Strategy, Clinical Research Network West Midlands 

Who you are representing on the board (organisation / group): Primary Care / Integrated Care Systems

Why the Progression Plan is important to you / your organisation: As the NHS, Social Care and Public Health landscape changes and re-aligns, it is critical that research is embedded and integrated into these systems, so that the population can benefit from high quality research and its findings, as well as the organisational advantages.

Progression Plan projects I am supporting:

• RAising the Profile of Research within Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) Across the West Midlands (RAPRICS)

• Improve integration of research at a Primary Care level

Email: david.shukla@nihr.ac.uk

Job title: Scientific Advisor, Medical Affairs, Janssen UK

Who you are representing on the board (organisation / group): Janssen UK (Pharmaceutical Industry)

Why the Progression Plan is important to you / your organisation: At Janssen, we are always looking for opportunities to partner with experts. Our alliances take many forms, but our goal is always the same: to advance scientific research to deliver solutions that provide value to patients, physicians and healthcare systems around the world.

Email: HJones32@its.jnj.com 

Job title: Assistant Director of Public Health

Who you are representing on the board (organisation / group):  Birmingham City Council

Why the Progression Plan is important to you / your organisation: The Progression Plan is important to our organisation as we consider the needs of our population in relation to recovery. There have been significant changes to the way we work and operate and these also need to be reviewed and analysed in terms of the impact on communities and population health.

Email: marion.gibbon@birmingham.gov.uk 

Job title: Clinical Director

Who you are representing on the board (organisation / group): Clinical Research Network West Midlands

Why the Progression Plan is important to you / your organisation: The Progression Plan is enabling us to work more efficiently and effectively with our partners and stakeholders. What’s been most exciting to me is the ability to work with representatives from those groups to co-produce collaborative projects which are now starting to have real impact. The potential future impact of this collaborative approach is truly exciting and because of their co-production is likely to lead to a broader reach across our communities. Many of these projects will coalesce the regional research community and enable more effective and efficient research delivery in the future.

Progression Plan projects I am supporting:

• Reach Under-served Communities (Community Engagement and Equalities Theme)

• Development of a Local Clinical Research Network (LCRN) funding model that encourages collaborative working and not competition

• Truly function as 'One National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)'

• Review Local Clinical Research Network (LCRN) organisational structure and processes 

• Increasing our digital capability in research

Email: matthew.brookes@nhs.net

Job title: Research Delivery Manager (Primary Care), Acting Deputy Chief Operating Officer

Who you are representing on the board: Clinical Research Network West Midlands and Primary Care

Why the Progression Plan is important to you / your organisation: I want to be part of the collaborative effort to make the West Midlands the best possible place to live, work and receive healthcare and social care, where research and innovation thrive. I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this important plan.

Progression Plan projects I am supporting:

• RAising the Profile of Research within Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) Across the West Midlands (RAPRICS)

• Improve integration of research at a Primary Care level

• Development of a Local Clinical Research Network (LCRN) funding model that encourages collaborative working and not competition  

Email: pam.devall@nihr.ac.uk

Job title: Project Manager

Who you are representing on the board: Clinical Research Network West Midlands as the Project Manager for the Progression Plan as a whole 

Why the Progression Plan is important to you / your organisation: The collaboration the Progression Plan affords the West Midlands region is vital in ensuring it becomes the best possible place to receive health and care that is accessible to all. The wide array of projects that make up the plan and the considerable number of people working on them illustrates just how important and exciting this piece of work is. I feel privileged to have been asked to project manage it. 

Email: rachel.prosser@nihr.ac.uk 

Job title: Director of Research and Innovation

Who you are representing on the board: Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust

Why the Progression Plan is important to you / your organisation: I am thrilled to represent Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust at the Progression Plan Programme Board. The board ambition for research developed and delivered in the West Midlands, to be equitable and diverse and relevant to the local population needs, is something l personally feel very passionate about. The Progression Plan Programme Board will enable us to continue to share best practice and new initiatives and l hope to support further opportunities for stakeholders to work collaboratively, develop new partnerships and continue to build on the strong links that already exist.

Progression Plan projects I am supporting:

• Engaging with the wider health and care workforce to be research active and developing researchers of the future

• Research related training that meets local stakeholder needs and can be delivered more digitally

Email: Ruth.Lambley-Burke@mpft.nhs.uk

Job title: Professor of Rheumatology / Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist

Who you are representing on the board: Keele University and Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust

Why the Progression Plan is important to you / your organisation: The Progression Plan is important to our organisations to highlight the challenges and potential solutions in the north of the Clinical Research Network West Midlands area and highlight the challenges that inequalities and multimorbidity play in access to and outcomes from care. 

Email: s.hider@keele.ac.uk 

• Ceri Jones, Head of Research and Development at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust

• Laura Magill, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Trials at University of Birmingham Cliniclal Trials Unit

• Lorraine Harper, Professor of Nephrology at University of Birmingham

• Rebecca Howell-Jones, Assistant Director - Knowledge, Evidence and Governance at Birmingham City Council

• Shazia Zafar, Research Fellow in Applied Health Research and Social Science at University of Birmingham

• Tammy Holmes, Head of Delivery (Innovation and Commercial) at West Midlands Academic Health Science Network