Lauren Bell tells us what her role as a Research Fellow within the Health Determinants Research Collaboration involves.
As a Marmot City, we are striving to improve the factors that impact people’s health, such as where we live, our work, finances, and social relationships. These factors ar
e called “health determinants”. Research helps us better understand what influences and improves people’s health. Research can therefore help local government to make effective decisions.
Coventry City Council is home to a “Health Determinants Research Collaboration”, or HDRC. The HDRC is a venture to build links between local authorities and universities to champion evidence-based decision making. Coventry City Council is one local authority receiving funding from the National Institute of Health and Care Research to establish a HDRC.
As a Research Fellow, I work with collaborators in our local universities, voluntary sector, NHS and with members of the public. I am involved in developing training opportunities to help colleagues get involved in using and doing research. I also want to help universities better understand local government, so that their research can have a positive impact in Coventry. One exciting area we are developing is community researchers, where we will support members of the public to do research that interests them, in their own communities.
The HDRC can provide advice and support with reading, understanding, and planning research about health determinants.
To learn more, send us an email at coventryHDRC@coventry.gov.uk or sign up to our newsletter.