Connecting to communities through research

Nottingham is Research

In 2018 we launched our Nottingham is Research strategy for increasing involvement and engagement in research. We set out to:

  • significantly increase opportunities for our local populations to be engaged and involved in high quality research studies
  • build on Nottingham’s reputation in involvement and engagement and continue to innovate
  • actively involve a broader, more diverse range of individuals, groups and communities by coordinating with partners including medical charities and the voluntary sector. 

Our learning from Nottingham is Research

The impact of COVID-19, whilst it accelerated our development of digital communications, limited our ability to fully realise the ambitions we set out in 2018.

Our commitment to diversity and to widening participation in high quality research have been strengthened during this time, supported by the feedback we received during the Pandemic about the barriers faced by our communities which COVID-19 brought into sharp focus – most notably, the need to build trust in research and research processes.

The other key message has been about the integration of research into clinical care; we recognise that for many patients research offers the only treatment option, and for many more it offers the hope that their experiences can help shape the future of health where there are currently no options.

Connecting to communities through research

We have now developed our plans for the next five years (2022-27). These are based on the things you have told us are most important to you and that will make a difference to the success and impact of our research.

In our new plan we want to enable more people to:

  1. Take part in research in Nottingham
  2. Benefit from the new treatments, therapies and technology that are developed because of the research we do in Nottingham
  3. Have trust in the research we do in Nottingham

The other change we have made is to produce a single plan which talks about the clinical research that takes place in our hospitals and also about the two centres of research excellence hosted by NUH:

  • NIHR Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) which translates new scientific discoveries into new medicines, therapies and technology for use in the NHS. It is a partnership between NUH and the University of Nottingham, supported by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and our wider NHS, academic and industry partners in the region
  • NIHR Nottingham Clinical Research Facility (CRF) which supports the delivery and development of experimental medicine research, which is the first step towards developing a new treatment for use in the NHS

Read our plan