The Hub has awarded funding of over £1 million to 15 collaborative digital health research projects and fellowships in December 2024, leveraging over £410,000 in additional funding from partner organisations.

Project spotlights

Dr Anna Price from the University of Exeter will lead a project focused on young people with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in partnership with Torbay and South Devon NHS Trust and NHS Devon Integrated Care Board. They’re aiming to reduce inequalities in access to healthcare through the use of an AI-powered virtual assistant to increase engagement with the CareADHD app. Dr Price’s team will be co-developing the technology with young people.

Dr Lis Grey from Bristol Medical School (BMS) in partnership with University of Bath, The Care Forum and Play Well for Life will also use co-design, working with at-risk groups to develop technological solutions to loneliness. Groups include neurodivergent teenagers and young adults, people with Parkinson’s or dementia and informal carers of people with Parkinson’s or dementia.

Dr Genevieve Williams from the University of Exeter will lead an extensive partnership, formed at the Hub’s Frailty, fall prediction and fall prevention sandpit. Dr Williams’ team includes University of Bristol, University of Plymouth, University of Bath, Bristol Health Partners and JockeyCam. Their project will explore the use of video and inertial measurement units for detecting falls and the activities preceding them.

Identifying regional priorities

Over the year since the Hub’s launch in October 2023, LEAP has co-produced a distinct digital health research strategy at the intersection between the health needs of the region and the specific research and innovation strengths of our partnership network.

The Hub’s call for collaborative research proposals invited applications in four thematic areas derived from this strategy:

• Care outside of the hospital
• Service and resource planning
• Frailty, fall prediction and fall prevention
• Smartphone and wearable technologies

Supporting new partnerships

In June 2024, leading up to the calls for proposals, the Hub supported the development of new cross-sector partnerships through a series of four ‘sandpits’ held at M Shed in Bristol. Each sandpit focused on one of the four research themes bringing together experts and problem holders. The sandpits provided an opportunity for attendees to make new contacts and generate project ideas through collaborative activities. As a result, the Hub received a very high number of high quality of applications, the majority of which came from new partnerships formed at one of the sandpits.

Project partnerships span across the Hub’s region with leadership from LEAP’s five university partners (University of Bristol, University of Bath, Cardiff University, University of Exeter and University of the West of England). Partners include regional NHS trusts and boards, voluntary and community interest organisations, digital health technology companies and other academic institutions.

Creating new opportunities

Within the 15 successful projects are five Fellowships including three Twin Fellowships, a new collaborative approach piloted by the Hub. In addition to vital digital health research, the Fellowships will provide career development opportunities for eight Fellows working in academia and healthcare across the region.

Fellowship Spotlight

Twin Fellows Dr Charlotte James from Bristol and Mr Luke Shaw at the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board will be working in partnership with Sirona Care and Health. They’ll develop a machine learning model to predict the risk of hospital readmission and quantify the effect of Virtual Wards on readmission risk.

All funded projects will support the Hub’s aims to increase digital health capability and address unmet health and social care needs across the region. Each proposal also aligns with one or more of the Hub’s research themes. 

Hub Director and Research Programme lead Professor Ian Craddock from the University of Bristol said: “Congratulations to all those funded by the LEAP Hub. It’s been so rewarding for the Hub to help connect new teams across the region – to bring their different capabilities together and address such important health challenges.”

Fellowships Programme Co-Director Professor Christos Vasilakis from the University of Bath commented: “Through the Fellowships programme, which is central to our mission of building digital health capacity in the South West of England and Wales, we are supporting the next generation of digital health leaders, enabling them to carry out impactful research and deliver tangible benefits to communities across the region and beyond.”

Katherine Freeman Senior Portfolio Manager at EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council), added: ‘’In 2023 EPSRC-UKRI invested £16.5 million in 5 digital health hubs across England, including the LEAP Hub. As part of their remit Hubs have flexible funding to award pilot projects. We are excited to see the new projects funded by the LEAP hub and look forward to understanding the innovative digital health solutions and partnerships these will deliver as well as the healthcare outcomes that will benefit patients.’’

LEAP is an EPSRC-funded Digital Health Hub that aims to cultivate a multidisciplinary, entrepreneurial, cross-sector Digital Health community in South West England and Wales. The Hub is providing opportunities for training, research and collaboration through three core programmes and a wide partnership network.