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A letter to ARC NENC members and partners, from Professor Eileen Kaner, Director and Professor Chris Price, Deputy Director.

April 2022 marks the halfway point in the five-year funding of NIHR Applied Research Collaborations (ARCs). Time passes so quickly.

This midway point offers us an opportunity to look back at what we’ve achieved so far and reflect on the fact that as a ‘new’ ARC, we’re just getting started in the grand scheme of things.

Fifteen ARCs were funded in 2019, and ours was one of only two newly formed ARCs in this group. The others were previously CLAHRCs (Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care) from 2014-2019, five years ahead of us – already organised to deliver, with lots of significant work already completed or underway, meaning their journeys since 2019 have been a bit different to ours.

Our first two and a half years have been about building a new and much-needed Applied Research Collaboration for the North East and North Cumbria, whilst also navigating our way through the significant challenges that Covid-19 presented.

Progress under unique circumstances

From a standing start, and despite the very challenging circumstances, we’ve now built a strong and connected Applied Research community across the region. We’ve also secured over £22million of direct and in-kind research funding for our region since we formed.

We’ve brought together researchers from across the career spectrum, health and social care professionals, public and community members and more, to work together with the common purpose of delivering better, fairer health and care at all ages and in all places.

We now have almost 500 registered members linked to our Applied Research Collaboration and have developed our presence and reputation with key stakeholders, locally and nationally.

Building research capacity in our region

One of our areas of focus has been on building health and social care research capacity in our region – and as a result we now have 20 ARC academic research fellows working across six regional universities, as well as 25 PhD students funded in collaboration with those universities.

Just as importantly, we’ve been working very closely with local authorities, NHS trusts, primary care partners and the community and voluntary sector, to offer opportunities for health and social care professionals to develop research skills or undertake specific projects that could make a real difference to the people they care for and support.

As part of this, we’ve just funded 16 Practice Research Fellows from a wide range of health and social care backgrounds, and we’re really excited to see how these Fellows, and their projects, develop.

We’ve also just secured an extra £750k to develop mental health research capacity in our region. This will allow us to appoint a number of new Mental Health Research Fellows, and set up a mental health special interest group – working closely with our two NHS Mental Health Trusts, and the Integrated Care System (ICS) for the North East and North Cumbria.

And most recently, we’ve launched a new Training Hub – our Virtual College – which will support ARC members to develop their research skills and careers.

Our impact so far

Over the last three weeks, as a group of ARCs nationally, we’ve been showcasing stories of impact and implementation, illustrating how ARC research can improve the quality, delivery and efficiency of health and social care services.

Our region’s case study focussed on a project we’re supporting to embed clinical psychologists in GP practices in areas of blanket deprivation, to support mental health care in those communities.

You can read the rest of the ARC impact case studies, here.

These case studies are merely a snapshot of the work that has been achieved both locally and nationally – there is so much more to tell.

If this is what we’ve been able to achieve in our first two and a half years, and under the cloud of Covid-19, imagine what we can achieve in the next two and half years.

We look forward to collaborating with you on the next stage of our journey.

Our first two and a half years – a snapshot

Funding

• £9M NIHR ARC initial funding for five years
• £7M initial matched funding
• £2M further matched funds
• £1.9M to lead a Prevention consortium
• £1.9M to lead an Inequality consortium
• £125K for Beneficial Changes
• £750K for additional mental health capacity

Achievements

• Recruited our core team
• Appointed 20 Research Fellows across 6 HEIs
• Funded 25 PhDs – worth £2M
• Recruited 16 Practitioner Fellows
• Funded 20 Masters places – with more to come
• Funded 53 local projects through our Open Funding Competitions (£2.7M)