This page lists some of the recent and current projects the HDRC has been involved in linked to our research priority areas and other emerging priorities
Baseline assessment of the Coventry Health Determinants Research Collaboration
Coventry HDRC is evaluating to understand and influence the progress and impact of the HDRC. It is essential that we track our progress. This will help us understand what is changing because of the HDRC and how we can improve. This study was to find out how Coventry City Council is involved in research now, at the start of the HDRC.
Two surveys were carried out early on, and we plan to repeat them in years 3 and 5 to track our progress. We are using interviews, focus groups, document analysis, and case studies, as well as working with other HDRC evaluation teams nationwide to help us evaluate the Coventry HDRC.
In one survey, we asked people working at Coventry City Council about how research is being carried out and used at the Council. We also requested information about Council employees ' training, skills, and research experience. In the second survey, we asked people working in the HDRC how they felt the group was working together. For example, we asked members of the HDRC about communication, leadership, and respect in the HDRC. We analysed the findings from both surveys to know more about how things work at this early stage. We then came up with recommendations for how the HDRC should develop.
The survey helped the HDRC team ensure that plans would be more valuable and relevant to council teams. For example, training plans were developed to suit people with no previous research experience and other opportunities for people who have already completed courses. Work is ongoing to develop guidance around how to ethically carry out research, where clear communications will be important. Also, ongoing work is needed to raise awareness of the HDRC and available support.
You can read the full report and survey findings on the NIHR open research portal.
Current HDRC research projects
Below are a range of research projects that the HDRC are currently supporting.
This list will be updated quarterly. If you have any questions about the research projects, please get in touch with the HDRC team by email: CoventryHDRC@coventry.gov.uk
Digital Inclusion - Device Bank Evaluation
The HDRC Quantitative and Mixed-Methods Research Fellow is working with both research ambassadors within the Digital Inclusion Team to produce a quantitative evaluation for the Device Bank. This evaluation will explore how the Device Bank has sustainedly supported service users with health, social connectivity, employment, and overall quality of life.
Digital Inclusion – WATCH programme Evaluation
The HDRC Quantitative and Mixed-Methods Research Fellow is working with research ambassadors within the Digital Inclusion Team to design, develop, and implement an evaluation framework for the WATCH community centre in Coventry.
Social Value
All HDRC Research Fellows are working with members of Coventry City Council to develop a framework for monitoring and evaluating projects in the council that link to social value. The key aims for social value include Employment skills and education, Procurement (local supply chain SMEs), and Climate change and sustainability.
Employment and Skills - Job Shop Evaluation & NIHR Research Funding Application
The HDRC Quantitative and Mixed-Methods Research Fellow and Research Assistant are collaborating with colleagues from Coventry City Council and Warwick University academics in Warwick Medical School to develop a research project surrounding an evaluation of the Job Shop in Coventry.
Adult social care absenteeism
The HDRC is supporting the Council's Adult Social Care and Occupational Health teams in developing interventions to improve the return to work process for staff on sick leave due to musculoskeletal complaints. We are also supporting the publication of a review into workplace interventions to improve mental health, wellbeing and absenteeism in frontline Adult Social Care staff.
Research prioritisation
The HDRC is working with public contributors to write and publish a scoping review to understand the methods used for community-focused research priority setting regarding reducing health inequality through addressing the social determinants of health.
Green health prescribing
The HDRC Evidence Synthesis Research Fellow is co-authoring a systematic review investigating the health benefits and access to green health prescribing in primary care for older adults living in deprived areas.
Healthy Homes NIHR Research Application
The HDRC Evidence Synthesis Research Fellow is a co-applicant for NIHR Public Health Research Programme funding for research on Barriers to Home Energy Efficiency Improvements and their Impact on Health Outcomes.
Digital Inclusion Service evaluations
The HDRC is providing advice on research and evaluation methods to the #CovConnects team and facilitating links to academic research collaborators. It is currently supporting initiatives such as the evaluation of approaches to access broadband for housing tenants in Coventry.
Marmot Partnership projects evaluation
The HDRC team works with the Marmot Partnership to identify evaluation opportunities and research priorities. Evidence reviews and research from the HDRC will be publicised via the Marmot Monitoring tool webpage.
Green spaces & community involvement research
The HDRC is supporting the Council Ecology & Sustainability team in its application for grant funding to develop green spaces and community involvement methods to inform the council's green space policy.
Mixer events
In March 2024, the Coventry University Impact team hosted an event to introduce the HDRC to its staff and facilitate networking for future research collaborations. The event had 80 attendees and featured discussions around the building blocks of health, such as digital inclusion, housing, transport, economic development, sustainability, food systems, and more. Find out more about the first event here.
Employment and skills - Job Shop Evaluation
The HDRC is exploring the potential to research the impact of the Job shop, and findings from a rapid literature review have already been circulated. An assessment of the Job Shops database for research has been conducted, and a potential cohort study embedded in the Job Shop (led by Warwick Medical School) is currently being scoped.
Report | Job shop evidence scoping
Employment & Skills - Green Skills & Health Inequalities Scoping Review
A rapid scoping review of local authority/industry initiatives around specific ‘green skills’ (retrofitting housing stock, electric vehicles, and batteries) has been identified as important for Coventry to inform policy. Relevant reports have been identified and are being synthesised to be shared with the Employment and Skills service to inform their knowledge further.
Report | Green skills evidence synthesis
Economic Development
The HDRC has been leading exploratory conversations about research options for maximising social value opportunities in Coventry. A literature review of social value initiatives in English local authorities is being produced ahead of a meeting with Sandwell Council, and interested academics are being identified.
Report | What are other local authorities doing around social value?
A spotlight on recent external research/reports:
Below is a range of external reports or research papers relevant to health determinants that we hope you will find a useful resource.
May 2024
England’s Widening Health Gap: Local Places Falling Behind, a new report from The Institute of Health Equity found widening inequalities in life expectancy between regions in England since 2010, and that 17 local authorities that have had statistically significant increase in inequalities in life expectancy.
April 2024
This The Conversation article discusses Awaab’s law and the need for a new approach to housing to ensure healthy homes for all.
A new report from The Health Foundation, Health inequalities in 2040, projects how health inequalities will look in 2040 should current trends continue. It suggests that 80% of the people of working-age living with a major illness will be concentrated in more deprived areas. To tackle this, major progress will be needed across government to address the determinants of someone’s health – such as housing, income, and employment. They discuss addressing these ‘building blocks’ in local government.
The Centre for Urban Wellbeing at the University of Birmingham recently hosted a webinar on Urban Wellbeing in Policy. Recording and related publications. The webinar covered: influencing regional policy, collaboration and use of evidence, co-production, and highlighted lessons learned from a research project which developed a community-policy-research ecosystem to address urban health and wellbeing inequalities.
March 2024
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration East Midlands ‘Lunch & Learn’ series
The NIHR Applied Research Collaboration East Midlands have launched a 'lunch & learn' series of 20 webinars on research. The series includes sessions on methods, academic writing and skills, and implementation and dissemination.
A Resolution Foundation report, funded by The Health Foundation, looked at the role of young people's mental health on employment and education through quantitative analyses and focus groups. They use this research to come up with key policy recommendations, such as increasing the mental health awareness of managers in sectors that employ young people, and increasing advice available for non-university career paths.
The charity Barnado’s, with the Institute of Health Equity at University College London and several Integrated Care Systems in England, has produced a children and young people’s health equity framework. The framework highlights how socioeconomic systems, social factors, and living conditions affect young people’s health and their interactions with health and wellbeing systems and services.
The King’s Fund Poverty and ill health: what’s the connection?
In a long read, The King’s Fund discusses the links between poverty and prevalence of ill health, access to healthcare, and poorer health outcomes.
February 2024
Prioritising early childhood to promote the nation’s health, wellbeing and prosperity
This report from The Academy of Medical Sciences outlines several research and policy objectives that should be prioritised by current and future Governments to reduce inequalities in early childhood
Health Inequalities, Lives Cut Short
A report from the Institute of Health Equity has confirmed that a million people in 90% of areas in England lived shorter lives than they should between 2011 and the start of the pandemic.
This briefing note from TRUUD (Tackling Root Causes Upstream of Unhealthy Urban Development) discusses how different forms of knowledge, particularly those from the public, can provide valuable insight into the connections between where people live and their health.
Q&A by The Health Foundation discusses how work to improve the way health data is used in relation to local places can lead to better decision-making and action on health inequalities.
January 2024
Coventry uses Marmot review to fight inequality
In 2013, Coventry City Council decided to become a self-described “Marmot city” to improve wellbeing and reduce disparities in health outcomes within the local population. Since becoming a Marmot city, Coventry’s outcomes regarding health and inequalities have improved.
Politicians must give us hope for a better future
Professor Sir Michael Marmot, Chair of the Coventry HDRC steering committee and Director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity has written an opinion piece in the British Medical Journal highlighting that 'we know what we need to do to improve health and reduce inequalities, now we need politicians to act'.
Climate change: Health effects in the UK
The report finds that the health implications of climate change will correspond with existing gradients in health and inequality. Those less able to control their environment, adapt their behaviours, or respond to new risks will be particularly vulnerable, including children, people with disabilities, people experiencing homelessness, and people in certain settings such as prisons, schools and social care.
Inequalities amplified: The alarming rise of child poverty in the UK
This report brings together the expertise of three organisations: Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), Runnymede Trust and Women’s Budget Group to understand why Black and minority ethnic children are more likely to grow
up in poverty, how this links to wider racial and gender disparities and what can be done to reduce child poverty and create a more equal society.
NIHR
The NIHR Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC) Coventry is part of the NIHR and hosted by Coventry City Council.
Visit the NIHR website