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The NIHR ARC North East and North Cumbria has strengthened its team with the appointment of four new Knowledge Mobilisation Fellows.

The role of a Knowledge Mobilisation Fellow is to support the implementation and use of research findings within the health and care system.

In October 2024, NIHR awarded £7.8m to its Applied Research Collaborations (ARCs) to support better use of research evidence across the health and social care system.

The initiative aims to reduce the time it takes to roll-out effective, evidence-based interventions, policies and models of care to address high-priority national and regional challenges, as well as maximise the impact of research.

Three of the new Fellows have joined the ARC NENC as embedded researchers, which means they’ll continue to work within their own current organisations, whilst supporting the ARC NENC on a part-time basis. One new Fellow has joined the ARC NENC core team and will work exclusively in that role.

A dynamic loop to meet health and care knowledge needs

The Fellows will work with in partnership with colleagues from across the health and care system, as well as with researchers and other communities, to drive forward the use of research evidence in health and care decision-making.

This will include identifying existing evidence and supporting its use in practice, working with practitioners and service users. They will also be supported to develop their skills so they can capture and communicate the needs of local decision makers back to the research community.

The aim is to create a dynamic loop in which health and care knowledge needs are met with research evidence in real time, creating an improvement-focused, evidence-based culture across our health and care system.

They will also join a network of national Knowledge Mobilisation fellows, funded by NIHR.

Arne Wolters, Implementation Lead for the NIHR ARC North East and North Cumbria, said:

“The appointment of our four new research fellows will enable us to work even more closely with our health and care partners and our ICB, to make sure we identify and mobilise evidence from research and innovations that are relevant to the challenges our local system is facing, and work with decision makers to make sure they have the right information at the right time.”

You can find out more about NIHR’s Knowledge Mobilisation funding, here.

You can find out more about our Knowledge Mobilisation Fellows by viewing their profiles, below.

Here to help

The Knowledge Mobilisation team are able to offer ‘Knowledge Sprints’ to support health and care decision making. The sprints involve rapid gathering and synthesis of evidence around a particular question or topic. The evidence is then summarised in an easy-to-read briefing, including recommendations to support decision making, where relevant.

If you would like to chat to the team about the support on offer, please email [email protected]