The Local Authority Research Practitioner (LARP) network

LARP Network winter event 2025

Wednesday 3 December 2025, Friends House, London

Registration for this event has no closed, places have been reserved for LARPs who we are aware will be starting their role before this date. Joining this event are 50+ LARPs, 30+ Line Managers, 10+ PHELs and staff from the Specialist Centre for Public Health.

LARP Network Winter Event Programme.

LARP Network summer event 2025

On Wednesday 4 June 2025, we held the LARP Network summer event, in-person, in York. LARPs from across England attended, along with some of the Public Health Engagement Leads and some LARP line managers and colleagues. 

LARP Network summer event recap

Network Launch Event

On Wednesday 6 November 2024 we held the LARP Network Launch Event in-person in London. LARPs from across England attended, along with line managers/representatives from local authorities who had been awarded LARP funding but had not yet recruited for the post.

LARP Network Launch event Programme.

LARP Network Launch recap.

Every month (except August and December), we invite a speaker to share their story or a best practice example with LARPs, their line managers, and colleagues. These virtual show and tells are scheduled on different days and times each month to accommodate different working patterns.

Show and tells are hosted on Microsoft Teams as standard video calls. Attendees are encouraged to keep their video on; to continue the supportive environment we are nurturing within the network, and so that speakers can see a smiling audience!

Upcoming show and tells:

11:00 – 11:45 Monday 27 October 2025 - Involving university students to increase research capacity and capability in local authority research

LARPs Lynn Zheng, Oxfordshire County Council and Lorna Leaston, Lincolnshire County Council will share the two different ways their councils are working with university students and increasing their research capacity.

14:00 – 14:45 Thursday 20 November 2025 - Collaborating for Impact: the experience/story of HDRCs and LARPs in the south west peninsula

LARP Zoe Doran in Torbay and Emily Taylor at HDRC Cornwall will share stories about how HDRC and LARP colleagues from the southwest peninsula and their diverse roles have criss-crossed and interwoven leading to both planned and unexpected connections, collaborations and opportunities. This event has been promoted and open to HDRC colleagues to register to attend.

13:00 – 13:45 Monday 8 December - Practical tips for accessible research documents and activities

Chantel Davies, Data Scientist at Bradford HDRC knows about, and cares about, making the documents we produce and share accessible. This practical show and tell will provide top functionality tips that we should all be utilising and encouraging others to use, when we share evidence and information about research.

Recordings of previous show and tells:

September 2025 - Ann Fitchett - NIHR PHIRST Communications Manager

Ann, together with Sarah Janac, a Knowledge Broker from the Edinburgh PHIRST team (Elevate) and our very own LARP Julie Englund from Durham County Council presented about PHIRST evaluations. Browse PHIRST Evaluations.

This LARP Network exclusive event invited comments and feedback about the PHIRST scheme. LARPs constructively shared the process of submitting Expressions of Interest with their colleagues. 

July 2025 - Nick Denham and Hong Chen - LARPs in Hertfordshire and West Northamptonshire Councils

Nick and Hong shared their experience of delivering council wide events to celebrate research and raise awareness of evidence. See the LARP Lowdown August 2025 for some of the key themes and lessons learned from this show and tell.  

June 2025 – Dr Austen El-Osta and Arti Sharma – Imperial College London and North London RDN
Arti shared her five year journey building research capacity in North London local authorities and how she connects research interests via the pathfinders initiative at Imperial College London. 

May 2025 – Laura Brown - Specialist Centre for Public Health - Research Programme Manager
Laura shared details of the consensus exercise she delivered with colleagues to define what we mean by research in a local authority setting. She also shared the definition that was created. Slides from the session.

April 2025 - Professor Lindsay Forbes
Lindsay shared with us that she translates NIHR opportunities into familiar language for local authority colleagues. She articulated the history of the sector and how we have reached where we are.

March 2025 – Dr Susan Hampshaw – Doncaster HDRC – Director
Susan provided an overview of the HDRC team in Doncaster. She shared her explanations of being evidence based, evidence informed, and evidence enriched and what she aspires to, and their use of the double diamond process for planning and designing next steps.

February 2025 - Dr Michael Johansen - Gateshead HDRC – Research Lead
Michael shared his background; how he approaches public and community involvement in research; what relationship building looks like and encouraged LARPs from all backgrounds to utilise their unique skills in their ambitious roles.

January 2025 - Dr Gary Bellamy - Hammersmith and Fulham Council - former Public Health Local Authority Practitioner (PHLARP) and now Lead for Public Health Research.
Gary shared stories of the highs and lows during his time as a PHLARP, what worked and what didn't, and what he is doing now. He was joined by Hammersmith and Fulham's Director of Public Health, Nikki Lang, who reflected on their journey and what lies ahead.

On the second Thursday of every month, we share the LARP Lowdown e-bulletin containing blogs, case studies, stories, resources and updates from across the LARP Network. We also feature a spotlight on one specific LARP, their achievements, and what they are working on.

If you have an idea for a feature for the bulletin, please contact Mac Emmerson: mac.emmerson@newcastle.ac.uk

Recipients of the LARP Lowdown include LARPs themselves, their line managers, and colleagues across the sector who have requested to receive it.

Previous versions of the LARP Lowdown:

Issue 13: October 2025

Issue 12: September 2025

Issue 11: August 2025

Issue 10: July 2025

Issue 9: June 2025

Issue 8: May 2025

Issue 7: April 2025

Issue 6: March 2025

Issues 5: February 2025

Issue 4: January 2025

Issue 3: December 2024

Issue 2: November 2024

Issue 1: October 2024

Every fortnight, LARPs are invited to optional virtual meetings.

These are casual drop ins that offer LARPs the chance to share what they are working on and ask each other questions. Unlike formal meetings with agendas, no preparation is required. The goal is to create a safe space to share challenges and things that are not understood. We also celebrate successes too!

Invites are only sent to LARPs, but it is possible to request to attend a drop in as a one-off guest if wider colleagues have a question they wish to propose to the LARPs.

Questions posted at previous drop ins include:

• 'How much does your council care about publishing research findings?'

• 'What is your council's current approach to ethics reviews?'

• What does your relationship with universities look like, is it formal or informal?'

• How can I gain access to OpenAthens?'

We want it to be easy to contact fellow LARPs.  

All LARPs are invited to share their contact information and headshot on the LARP Directory.  Reach out to one another and share ideas.  

The role of a LARP is ambitious and can be overwhelming. Download our LARP Handbook to gain tangible ideas from LARPs and colleagues across the country to gain some reassurance. This document is regularly reviewed and updated. The next version is due in July 2025.

In this folder are job descriptions, person specifications and job adverts for LARPs. 

Please feel free to use them to write your own roles. 

An Overview of Local Authority Structures and Decision Making

This paper is to help people who are new to local authorities. It describes a typical Council political and management structure and gives some pointers as to which key documents you should familiarise yourself with so that you can start to understand the policy landscape.

Utilise the activities in this manual to create a 30 second elevator pitch about what you do as a LARP in a succinct and memorable way. Gain allies who champion the benefits of being research led, by developing a ‘hook’.

This manual was designed by the SCPH and delivered via a workshop at the LARP Network Launch Event in November 2024.

Source for example structures: 11 great elevator pitch examples & how to make yours

This background can be used by LARPs for zoom and teams meetings. 

To add your local authority logo click the link above and then add your logo to the top right.  

We recommend using PNG version of your logo, or a white version of your logo (you may need to speak to your communications team to request this). 

When you have added your logo, download the image as a JPEG and then delete your logo from the template so another LARP is able to use it. 

If you have any questions, please email alex.rodger@newcastle.ac.uk. 

The NIHR have a Guide to Writing a Policy Brief with some helpful advice. Examples of two-page research briefs are also produced by the Centre for Translational Research in Public Health (Fuse).

Persuasion and promotion are elements of the LARP role that require careful consideration. Our short guide to maximise meetings is designed to help you step back and think about what you can prepare to make the best of every interaction.

Designing great presentation slides can be time consuming. Here we are sharing five simple top tips. These may be the sort of tips that you wish you had known sooner.

Many LARPs are designing e-bulletins to share with research-interested colleagues. Check out our top tips. Maybe there is something that can help your design.

Southwark Council have kindly shared their guidance from their internal intranet page which explains to colleagues how and where to look for evidence and assessing its quality.

• Developed by researchers at Queensland Health and Griffith University and used by the Australian government.   

• This validated tool has been used by some HDRCs as part of their mapping/scoping activity to determine what the perceptions and appetite are in their LA about research. 

• Some LAs have modified it and added supplementary questions, some used it in full and others been informed by it. It is lengthy and some sections may not be relevant or the terminology may need amending to suit your needs.  

• Its use will depend on your capacity and whether or not you are going through any ethics review for your staff survey/mapping activity.  

Australian researchers have validated the RCC tool, you can read about their research, validation of the RCC tool.

If you are interested in using SEER contact us and we can put you in touch with local authorities who have used it.   

Newcastle HDRC were informed by the Research Capacity in Context Tool (RCC) and SEER tool to come up with six quantitative questions for their all-staff survey.    

South Tyneside Council created and shared a staff survey and called it ‘Making Better Decisions’, we like the wording of their invite to participate. Getting the comms and tone right for an all-staff survey can be tricky, especially when you want a good response rate. The invite needs to ‘speak to people’ and have a clear call to action i.e. ‘complete this survey now’.