A collaboration between the Universities of Bristol, Cardiff and Swansea has been awarded £5 million by the UK Clinical Research Collaboration (UKCRC) to establish a Centre of Excellence for research into public health.
The Centre for the Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer) will bring together experts from a range of disciplines to tackle public health issues including diet and nutrition, physical activity, and alcohol, tobacco and drugs.
The Centre will receive up to £5m over 5 years to create new academic posts and develop strong training and career development programmes. It will be led by Professor Laurence Moore of the Cardiff Institute for Society, Health and Ethics, with Professor Rona Campbell of Bristol University’s Department of Social Medicine as co-director.
The funding will also provide the technical staff, IT systems, equipment, administrative support, research facilities and other infrastructure needed to support high quality research.
Professor Campbell said: “We are delighted to have secured this funding. The Centre will enable world-class experts from a diverse range of backgrounds to come together and conduct the kind of research that will make a significant impact on the health of the nation.
“There have been profound improvements in health and life expectancy over the last century but the UK still faces challenges to improve public health and ensure that, as a society, we enjoy longer and healthier lives. This Centre will produce high quality research to help policy makers deal with public health issues in an informed and practical way.”
Four other Centres of Excellence, based in Newcastle, Belfast, Cambridge and Nottingham, were also awarded grants under the same initiative.
A group of funders came together under the umbrella of the UKCRC to provide a total of £20m. They are the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Economic and Social Research Council, Health and Social Care Research & Development Office for Northern Ireland, Medical Research Council, National Institute for Health Research, Wales Office of Research and Development - Welsh Assembly Government and the Wellcome Trust.