JOB DESCRIPTION and EOI SPECIFICATION: 

NIHR CRN East Midlands funded research time for local government Public Health (PH) Consultant/or equivalent.  (Two posts available)

1 July 2021.

The NIHR Clinical Research Network (CRN) is the research delivery arm of the NIHR in England. It is led by a national Coordinating Centre and operates through 15 Local Research Networks. These local Networks support delivery of funded research across 30 specialties of which Public Health is one. The CRN has historically been a clinical NHS based network but in January 2018, it extended its remit and eligibility criteria to support studies taking place outside the NHS. This change was needed to ensure that the network could support public health and prevention research taking place in non-health settings, for example schools and community settings. 

To help deliver this wider remit and develop mechanisms for supporting population and prevention research, the CRN is supporting a number of local authority focused initiatives to help connect academic and practice based PH, and to develop local government public health research, working with funding from the DHSC. One of these initiatives is to fund research time for local government PH Consultants/or equivalent which will allow them to take time out of their day to day role to connect to research organisations, start to develop a culture of research and evidence within their local authority and importantly to develop research bids. These research sessions will be supported by the NIHR CRN (national and local) which will provide links to an extensive national research network that includes research design support research training and regional events.  

PH Consultant/or equivalent research time will be key to driving the local government PH research agenda. Applications are welcome from those with a passion for bringing research opportunities to their local authority footprint, and an ambition to improve robust evaluation and evidence to locally delivered PH and preventative interventions. 

4 hours – 2 days per week will be funded for research activity for 12 months.

Aim of research sessions

Applications for funded research sessions are open to those currently working as a DPH, PH Consultant in Public Health or equivalent in a local authority in the East Midlands. Successful applicants will support the development of research activity within that local authority, specifically this will include:

• Connecting with academic partners and the NIHR CRN to seek out opportunities for their organization to develop, host or contribute to research
• Driving the development of embedded evaluation in both health and non-health locally delivered interventions
• Generation of research questions 
• Supporting the development of capacity to lead research from their own organisation
• Supporting the development of a culture where findings and research evidence at the centre of decision making in their organisation
• Encouraging the development of the NIHR CRN portfolio and the uptake of research training within their public health team and wider organisation
• Participating in NIHR CRN regional and national events where appropriate
• Providing updates and an annual report of progress to the NIHR CRN and contributing to the wider national evaluation of this initiative.

How to apply – 

Please submit a 2 page Expressions of Interest to Harpal Ghattoraya, EMCRN Research Delivery Manager Division 2 and 5 at harpal.ghattoraya@nihr.ac.uk by July 29^th 2021.

EOIs will be considered by Derek Ward, EMCRN PH Clinical Lead, Harpal Ghattoraya Research Delivery Manager and Sally Bassett CRNEM PH Specialty Manager with a short online interview in week starting 16 August 2021.

For information please contact Sally Bassett (CRN EM PH Specialty Manager) at Sally.bassett@nihr.ac.uk

The EOI should be submitted with Local Authority/other organisation sign up.  It is mandatory that this person confirms their interest to their local authority prior to submission and that the focus of their activity is within the local authority area.

The interview stage will involve the individual being invited to discuss their ideas further with the panel. This will provide an opportunity to give details of proposed outputs of the post holder and how the local authority area will be central to the role.

The panel will make a decision on how the funding will be distributed and local authorities will be informed by the end of August 2021. 

The EOI should include the following – 

1. Name of Local Authority/organisation and named contact for this EOI.

2. Why do you think your local authority should receive this funding? (Maximum 250 words)

3. Briefly describe what your organisation’s vision is for research? (Maximum 250 words)

4. Briefly tell us about any research, if any, your organisation has been involved in during the past 2 years.

Please attach CVs for background information.