Impact report

Another year has flown by, and we are marking what has been a busy and exciting 3 years since we launched the Research Support Service Specialist Centre for Public Health delivered by Newcastle University and Partners.

The landscape we work in is ever changing, and as prevention and public health are high on the political agenda, the work we do is increasingly important.

Our third birthday feels poignant. We are over half way through our 5 years of funding. We have held our final funding calls for Local Authority Research Practitioners and Public Health Engagement Leads, and we are now looking towards encouraging local authorities to think about the legacy of these posts.

On behalf of the team, I would like to thank those working in local authorities and Health Determinants Research Collaborations, voluntary and community settings, higher education institutes, and our public contributors living and working in local communities, who continue to work with us to support, and further develop, public health research.

The work we do would not be possible without our dedicated team, including our 3 satellites in the Midlands, the South West and Yorkshire and Humber, who all work with such enthusiasm to drive forward our shared vision.

I hope you enjoy reading this impact report and reflecting on another successful year.

Professor Ashley Adamson, Director

Local authority support and resources

We support local authorities to embed research and use of evidence into everyday public health practice by directly investing in posts and by creating opportunities for individuals and teams to grow their research skills and experience.

Local Authority Research Practitioners (LARPs)

More than £5.5 million of LARP funding, matched by local authorities across England, is helping build research capacity and capability in local authorities. LARPs support ways of working that ensure public health policies and programmes are regularly informed by robust research and evidence.

87 local authorities have been awarded LARP funding
92 local authorities covered by our LARPs
85 LARPs are currently in post
- - 12 have had their roles confirmed as permanent positions
  - 15 local authorities have indicated they will make the role permanent

LARPs have developed interest groups to support focused discussions on shared challenges and opportunities, while promoting best practice. The interest groups have developed guidance on:

Working with universities
Evaluating the LARP role
Developing bitesize training
Identifying research priorities
Sharing research findings
Benchmarking how much research is taking place at your council

As our LARPs have continued to establish themselves within their local authorities, and the wider NIHR, they have been invited to:

Join the NIHR Reviewer Development Scheme – 9 signed up
Assist with the NIHR Public Health Intervention Responsive Studies Team Prioritisation scheme - 17 supported

29 LARPs have also expanded their connections and represented the LARP Network and Specialist Centre for Public Health at 9 conferences and events, including presenting posters and hosting workshops.

The map below shows our LARP coverage across England, and the photos are our LARPs at the LARP Network national event on Wednesday 23 September.

Public Health Engagement Leads (PHELs)

PHELs promote the value of local authorities being research active organisations, developing connections and networks across their area, and facilitating links with the SCPH, other parts of NIHR, academic and voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) partners, and with other local authorities. They support a one NIHR approach to research. Our 29 PHELs represent an investment of over £500K, and cover 147 local authorities across England.

The photo shows our PHELs at their first in person away day on 30 June. This event was an opportunity for them to network and share progress and learning. The map shows our PHEL coverage across England.

Our PHELs have achieved a lot. Over the last year they:

Chaired 2 research governance and ethics showcase webinars that were attended virtually by over 250 people
Promoted our public and community partnerships funding award and our public health grassroots award funding opportunities (renamed in July to the introduction to public health research - training and development award), and supported successful applicants
Supported and facilitated LARPs to connect in their regions
Developed regional public health research networks and communities of practice
Gave valuable input into the scoping and service design for the public health research delivery pilot
Sat on funding panels for 2 of our funding awards
Reviewed and advised on our public health research resources and training offers
Continue to promote research and its benefits to senior leaders in local authorities
Developed mechanisms to share research resources regionally

Introduction to public health research - training and development award

Formerly the public health grassroots award

This award was designed to help local authority and VCSE colleagues with little or no research experience develop their research skills and knowledge. It also helps bridge the gap between public health practice and future research career opportunities, including those offered through the NIHR Academy.

53 people have been awarded funding over 3 funding calls

26 colleagues in local authorities
27 colleagues in VCSE organisations

We have awarded over £207K so far and received valuable feedback:

“I have developed a deeper understanding of the opportunities around sharing housing and health data to improve health outcomes for residents and reduce inequalities. I have developed new skills in qualitative research methods and a better understanding of NIHR."

“Without the funding and mentoring support, I would not have had the protected time, guidance or access to research networks needed to develop these skills.”

Many recipients of the funding have subsequently successfully applied for NIHR funding awards to further develop as practitioner researchers, including a Local Authority Short Placement Award (LA SPARC), Predoctoral awards and a PhD.

Funding call 4 opens on 1 October 2026.

Public and community partnerships funding award

These awards help local authorities work more closely with people and communities, with the aim of ensuring that people most affected by health inequalities have a stronger voice in shaping public health research.

By funding partnership building and new ways of engaging communities, the projects have created new relationships, made better use of community strengths, and developed learning on how to involve people and communities in local authority-led research.

The programme has supported 2 pilot awards in Kent County Council and Lancashire County Council, as well as 29 projects funded through the first open call. A second funding call will launch in December 2026, creating further opportunities for local authorities and communities to develop and strengthen research partnerships.

Key activities include:

Building relationships with VCSE organisations and local communities
Working with peer researchers, community researchers and research champions
Co-designing inclusive involvement approaches
Testing involvement methods in new settings and populations
Developing training, toolkits and practical resources

Research design advice

We offer support to anyone wishing to develop a research project on public health outside the NHS. This offer is open to those new to research developing their first project as well as established researchers applying for fellowships, project and programme grants, regardless of if they are based in a local authority, VCSE or university. Our team of methodologists have expertise in a range of research methods, and involving the public in research. We can also help to identify appropriate funding opportunities for public health research outside the NHS, including career development awards.

Pre award support

Our 23 methodologists across England have supported 395 projects and answered 67 research design enquiries.

The 395 project lead applicants came from:

75 local authorities
16 community organisations
233 academic institutions
15 NHS infrastructure
12 other organisations

The project lead applicants came from:

75 local authorities
16 community organisations
233 academic institutions
15 NHS infrastructure
12 other organisations

16 of our public contributors have reviewed 27 plain language summaries, 21 applications, and sat on 8 mock interview panels.

The 395 projects included support for funding calls, including:

Active travel facilitators and barriers within different populations
Doctoral fellowships
Loneliness in the community
NIHR Three Schools Prevention Programme
PHR Researcher-led
Predoctoral fellowships
School readiness and the home learning environment
Women in the armed forces

Supporting NIHR career development awards

Together, with the Specialist Centre for Social Care and NIHR Academy, we host annual webinars to offer information, advice and support for individuals in local authorities and VCSE organisations who are considering applying for an NIHR Predoctoral, Doctoral or Postdoctoral Award.

In 2024 we held a series of in person events across England, and in November we held a series of 5 webinars, attended by over 350 people.

Our 2026 support began last month with a joint Doctoral and Postdoctoral webinar attended by over 80 people.

Our Yorkshire and Humber Satellite supported a Speciality Registrar in Public Health by facilitating a mock interview for the NIHR Doctoral Fellowship in June. They gave a mock interview presentation and discussed all aspects of the application. We are delighted to share that they were awarded a NIHR Doctoral Award.

Training and development

Our training and development resources support anyone involved in public health research outside the NHS, whatever their level of experience. The programme has been developed in partnership with local authorities and is designed to meet identified training needs and preferred ways of learning.

We offer a range of flexible resources for people new to research and those looking to build upon their existing skills, helping them develop their research knowledge and expertise in a way that suits their role, needs and schedule.

Learning stories

Responding to local authority need, the learning stories showcase practical examples of ways local authorities approach their research journey.

We have shared 41 learning stories that have been viewed over 4300 times by over 500 users.

Our most popular topic is research governance and ethics with 272 page views.

Our most read learning story is ‘creating a common language around evidence’ which was written to explain the evidence pie which HDRC Rhondda Cynon Taf are using. That story has had 149 views and has been adopted by a number of local authorities, illustrating the power of sharing learning and good practice.

Research training webinar series

Whether you’re an experienced researcher, or considering your first potential project, there was something for everyone in our training webinar series.

Since we launched the series...

We have delivered 27 webinars
We have had over 2300 attendees
The recordings have been viewed over 5800 times on YouTube

Training resources

The training resources have something for everyone, from experienced researchers to those considering their first potential project. We have a range of training resources that support the development of your skills, while also providing some flexibility as to how and when you engage with this resource. The resources we have shared include:

Case studies
Communications
Critical thinking
Data management
Ethics and consent
General resources
Methods
Papers and publications
Public and community engagement
Training animations

Research governance and ethics

We recognise that local authorities play different roles in research, and the governance and ethics requirements vary depending on the type of research and the local authority’s involvement. Our approach is therefore informed by a scoping exercise with more than 60 local authorities. Based on this work, we are developing practical tools and resources to help local authorities commission, host and initiate research, underpinned by governance and ethics processes that are proportionate, robust and easy to use. In the last year we have launched the following:

Local authority research costing tool

Launched in March, the research costing tool has been designed to support local authorities in calculating the costs of research projects/activities and in preparing funding applications. In addition to helping users calculate the total costs of their research, it offers practical guidance on key factors to consider when completing research funding applications. The costing tool can be used if you are leading on a funding application or if you are providing costs for your organisation’s involvement in a collaborative funding bid.

Downloaded over 220 times by:

141 local authorities
37 academic institutions
9 NHS/healthcare settings
10 Research Delivery Network colleagues
15 VCSE organisations
9 other

We have also presented it at 10 conferences and national meetings.

Research governance and ethics resources repository

In January, we launched the research governance and ethics resources repository.

The repository contains research governance frameworks and associated documentation that have been shared by local authorities. It was launched to support local authorities in finding examples to refer to if they are considering developing or updating a research governance framework or process for their organisation.

So far... 14 local authorities have shared resources and supported this work.

The repository has been viewed over 1600 times by over 220 users.

Developing local authority specific research governance principles

In February and March, 51 people from 23 local authorities took part in workshops to develop a set of local authority research governance principles. The principles:

Protect

Arrangements are in place to protect…

The safety and welfare of all individuals taking part in research
The safety and welfare of individuals undertaking the research
All primary and secondary data collected or reused as part of the research
The organisations involved

Align

Research activity is in alignment with…

Legal requirements
Statutory and professional responsibilities (including duty of care)
Organisational values

Benefit

Research activity responds to an identified need and has a clear benefit to the council services or the wider community.

Involve

Communities impacted by the research are represented in the research.

Design

Research activity will be reviewed to assess appropriate methods and adequate resourcing.

Accountability

Accountability of research activities will be ensured by:

Transparency about how research has been undertaken
Honest and accurate reporting of research findings
Feeding back findings to research participants and communities

Publishing the definition of research

In May, our paper: A local-authority specific definition of research: Results from a Delphi study was published in the journal, Public Health in Practice.

We are continuing to collect feedback on the definition of research guidance and decision tool and will revise this resource in response to feedback we receive. If you have any comments on the guidance and decision tool, please use the feedback form to share them with us.

Research delivery pilot

The research delivery pilot is being undertaken in recognition of the diverse needs and complexities of public health research being delivered outside the NHS. It has scoped, designed and is now piloting a public health research delivery support service to provide appropriate and high-quality support for researchers and organisations delivering and undertaking public health research in settings outside the NHS.

The pilot support service is available from 30 July 2026 to 31 August 2027.

The support available is tailored to individual need, from signposting through to hands-on support to set up, deliver or undertake public health research once funding has been awarded. We work closely with researchers to identify the areas where we can provide support to them and their project. The service continues to develop throughout the pilot, so the examples below are only some of the ways we can support. We will adapt and evolve to meet any new delivery support needs identified.

Examples of current support:

Identify organisations that want to participate in research projects and broker relationships
Provide resources to support the setup and delivery of research, including template documents for data sharing
Support with costing throughout the whole research journey for research in settings outside the NHS, using the local authority research costing tool
Provide hands on support to navigate research governance processes and complete documentation required for governance reviews in different organisations

Launching the pilot support service

The pilot support service is open to all queries, even for those not sure what support is needed or available.

We support research involving population-level interventions and research that involves data outside the NHS. We work closely with the NIHR Research Delivery Network (RDN) to provide additional support to public health studies that are on the RDN portfolio if appropriate.

Since we launched on 30 July, there has been considerable interest in the pilot with 28 enquiries received.

There have also been:

1 referral from the research design advice team
3 referrals from the Research Delivery Network
7 referrals from the pilot support service to the research design advice team

Feedback:

Working with the team has been incredibly valuable to the Digital Determinants of Health Hub and our National Digital Determinants of Health Study. Their support has helped us extend our reach into school networks, directly contributing to the recruitment of a participating school and helping us build a wider network of interested schools. Their responsiveness and willingness to support the research throughout has been hugely appreciated.

Dr Amrit Kaur Purba, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Public and community partnerships (PCP)

We use the term PCP to describe our work supporting local authorities to develop their activities that involve and engage the public, communities and people with lived experience in their public health research. We have invested colleague time, and funding, into the development of our public contributors, and into developing resources to support PCP activities in local authorities.

Induction session pilot

The 9 PCP induction sessions ran as a pilot to ensure our public contributors have the knowledge, skills, and confidence, to fulfil our involvement activity. The induction programme was co-created with our public contributors.

Personal development plans and budgets

Each public contributor has a personal development plan and annual development budget to help build their public health research skills and interests, supporting their role us.

Zahid Hossain has a passion for research inclusion and is a leader in the Rohingya Association, a charity dedicated to finding sustainable solutions for the Rohingya people. Zahid wanted to learn more about how different local authorities involve diverse people, including ethnic minorities, in their public health research. As part of Zahid’s development plan, he spent a day with HDRC Lambeth, who have been working hard to involve their diverse communities in their public health research.

PCP resources

We have created a set of templates to help local authorities introduce public and community contributors to their roles. They include materials for four short sessions, providing a basic introduction to key topics that can be adapted to meet the needs of each local authority.

Research inclusion (RI)

To support NIHR’s requirement that all applicants demonstrate how their research will address existing inequalities as a condition of funding, we have worked to support our team, and researchers, to embed RI in funding proposals.

Developing the team and researchers

Mabadiliko CIC cultural humility – equipping 20 colleagues with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to engage in meaningful conversations about race, challenge oppressive behaviours, and apply cultural humility principles in their work.

Research with the LGBTQ+ community – this webinar was delivered by Dr Lauren Hall, Methodologist and RI Lead from our Midlands Satellite, in partnership with The Diversity Trust and a public contributor with lived experience to support researchers and local authority practitioners to embed RI in their research proposal.

Learning disability inclusive research - ‘no research about us without us’ – a collaborative research project led by people with learning disabilities, academic researchers and community partners. In this webinar the research team shared key learnings from the project, practical takeaways and recommendations for future research, and next steps for creating more inclusive and equitable research.

RI drop ins

In April, May and June we held 9 drop in sessions to meet and support people in England, working in settings outside the NHS, involved in research that delivers public health services. The sessions offered an informal chat with our RI Lead to discuss research ideas.

Coming in the next 12 months...

Public health research interest map

Find people interested in the same public health research topics as you.

Filter and search by research interest on the map. Identify academics and colleagues in local authorities and voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations by their research interests.

This map includes ‘wider determinants of health’ within public health including housing, employment and education.

Pin | Locate | Connect | Collaborate

Capturing impact and learning

Over the last 3 years, we have been carrying out lots of innovative activity with local partners and we are working hard to ensure this learning is captured and shared widely. Alongside our published definition of research, we are working to further enhance our stages of research model, publish learning on how local authorities are using evidence in practice, and are seeking to capture the impact and reach of our activity through network analysis. We also have active evaluation programmes for our research delivery pilot, our LARP roles, and the PCP award.

Training and development

Over the next 12 months, foundation level training will be developed to meet the following learning objectives:

Developing a basic understanding of public health research and its relevance
Developing the confidence and competence to deliver or support a piece of research
Developing research skills to be able to meaningfully contribute to evidence informed decision making

A pilot new advisor scheme will be launched which enables early career researchers to shadow an RSS Methodologist for 3 months. This will offer development opportunities to both the researcher and the Methodologists.

The spotlight series of training and development resources will continue, with the following focus areas scheduled for 2027:

Data management and sharing
Using evidence and building an evidence informed culture
Supporting and promoting the benefits of effective collaboration

Research ethics

Over the next 12 months, we will facilitate discussions around different models of ethical review for local authorities, and when external ethical review is required.

This work will explore ethical requirements for publication, practical considerations for local authority-led review and in which circumstances, review by external partners, such as partner universities is a possibility.

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