This year’s Annual report once again provided us with the chance to highlight our research undertaken in our work packages and our extended activities across the Centre between April 2019 and March 2020.
Showcasing achievements
The report showcases our key achievement in gaining over 8 million of funding to population health research in Wales. Collaboration was key to this success. Working in partnership with UK wide research groups such as Health Data Research UK and Administrative Data Research UK has meant that the Centre is able to demonstrate its leading expertise in population health data research within the UK to leverage international funding.
Also, highlighted was our continued success in supporting child health and wellbeing research, helping to inform policy, practice and provision at a national and international level. Of particular note in demonstrating our success was the international recognition of school interventions such as Outdoor Learning and The Daily Mile.
Ambitions for the coming year
The report gives us the opportunity to present our research ambitions for the forthcoming year. Going forward, our work in early year’s research will continue and be extended with an increased focus on pregnancy and the first 1000 days.
Reacting to COVID-19
However, with the arrival of Coronavirus, much of our focus shifted to allow us to utilise our expertise and knowledge in population health, public health and healthcare to help understand and combat the pandemic.
Since lockdown, the HAPPEN Primary School Network, a key Centre project, has been carrying out research to gain a better understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on the health and wellbeing of primary school pupils and school staff in Wales, with an aim to help inform decision making.
Also, in aiming to inform the response to the pandemic, our team have been involved in international collaborations, working with colleague from the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank and Health Data Research UK Network accelerate COVID-19 research.
Reviewing International response has also been undertaken with the Centre working with US colleagues identifying the public health emergency preparedness and response practices comparable to those utilized in medicine and other public health fields.
With the on-going challenges faced with the pandemic, the centre will continue to inform the response by working with partners both nationally and internationally.
Read our full report here.
Sam Dredge, National Centre for Population Health & Wellbeing Research Manager.
The National Centre for Population Health & Wellbeing Research, funded by the Welsh Government through Health and Care Research Wales, brings together a world-class team of researchers, statisticians and data analysts from the Universities of Swansea, Cardiff, and Bangor alongside Public Health Wales to understand, evaluate and inform population health Improvements.