Queen Mary University of London has received funding for three fellowships in primary care as part of our membership in the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) School for Primary Care Research (SPCR). Two of the fellows – Dr Meredith Hawking and Dr Chris Carvalho – are members of the university’s Clinical Effectiveness Group (CEG) who use primary care data to improve population health in north east London.
Nurse taking patient's blood pressure. Credit: iStock.com
NIHR SPCR is a collaboration of nine leading English academic primary care centres that excel in research into the first point of care in the NHS. The awards, with a total value of over £379,000, will support research to be conducted through the Centre for Primary Care in Queen Mary's Wolfson Institute of Population Health.
Queen Mary has excelled in securing three of thirteen fellowships conferred nationally:
Chris Griffiths, Professor of Primary Care at Queen Mary, said:
“Enabling early career researchers to develop their research expertise is just one of the benefits of membership of the NIHR School for Primary Care Research. These three talented local researchers will pursue the projects they have developed, supported by excellent senior supervision, leading in turn to further grant funding.”
The fourth iteration of the NIHR SPCR commenced on 1 April 2021, with an award of £22 million for research. The school has also received funding of £10 million from the NIHR Academy to support capacity building in primary care research, including opportunities such as these three funded Fellowships.
The nine member institutions share their expertise with non-member institutions, with a strong emphasis on engaging, collaborating, and partnering with institutions beyond the School membership. Alongside Queen Mary, the current member institutions are University of Bristol, University of Exeter, University of Keele, University of Manchester, University of Nottingham, University of Oxford, University of Southampton and University College London (UCL).