Investigating children’s health and maternal wellbeing: £1.85 million awarded as national research priority

6 July 2020

The National Institute for Health and Care Research Applied Research Collaboration (NIHR ARC) West is helping to develop a research programme to investigate children’s health and maternal wellbeing.

This national research collaboration, awarded £1.85 million by NIHR, is being led by colleagues at PenARC (NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South West Peninsula), alongside ARC Yorkshire and Humber.

The funding aims to use evidence to improve health outcomes in childhood and maternal health across the country, working with service users, charities and professional groups to identify key areas where evidence can help to improve public health and services in health and social care. It will build on world-leading expertise in children’s and maternal health, and existing local and national networks, to best understand how research can contribute to meaningful change.

ARC West will be developing the research programme alongside ARC North East and North Cumbria, with support from ARCs West Midlands, North Thames, North West London, South London and North West Coast.

The award is one of several from the NIHR, the nation’s largest funder of health and care research. It invited proposals from the 15 ARCs to bring together universities, NHS and social care organisations, and local authorities to help solve the most pressing issues facing health and social care. NIHR ARC West is a collaborator on the following themes:

  • Mental health, led by ARC South London
  • Adult social care and social work, led by ARC Kent, Surrey and Sussex
  • Prevention, including behavioural risk factors, led by ARC North East and North Cumbria
  • Multimorbidity, led by ARC East Midlands
  • Health and care inequalities, led by ARC North East and North Cumbria
  • Children’s health and maternity, led by ARC South West Peninsula