The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration Kent, Surrey and Sussex (ARC KSS) welcomes the announcement from the NIHR to invest £7.8 million for Applied Research Collaborations (ARCs) to build knowledge mobilisation capacity and capability within the health and social care sector.
The initiative aims to reduce the time it takes to roll out effective interventions, policies and models of care to address high-priority national and regional challenges and maximise the impact of research.
Key priorities for the initiative include:
- supporting proven strategies, interventions and models of care to be implemented into practice, responding to high-priority areas from national policymakers, the health and care systems and patients and the public
- proactively engaging key stakeholders
- building a knowledge mobilisation community to share learning, and
- evaluating knowledge mobilisation activities to evidence what works, for whom and why.
To support this initiative, the ARCs will appoint knowledge mobilisation “fellows” in local systems. These fellows will form a bridge between the ARC and those in our region that provide health and care services. They will be supported to enhance their skills so they can capture and communicate the needs of local decision makers. They will work with the ARCs to identify existing evidence-based treatments and models of care, and support them into practice, working with practitioners and service users.
As part of this funding, the ARC KSS has been awarded £560,000, for a three-year period starting on 1 October 2024, to work with system partners to help bridge research-practice gaps and foster innovation and collaborations within the region.
The Knowledge Mobilisation Fellowships will be supervised by the Health Innovation Kent Surrey Sussex (Health Innovation KSS) Team, bringing together their extensive stakeholder relationships across the core ARC KSS themes of social care, primary and community health services, dementia and children and young people's mental health, as well as their knowledge of the system and experience of spread and adoption of innovation into practice.
Welcoming the announcement, Professor Stephen Peckham, Director of ARC KSS, said:
"I am delighted that we have received this national funding to link our research community to work more closely with staff in health and social care services. The new fellows will work closely with the ARC and Health Innovation Kent Surrey and Sussex to ensure that research evidence is used to improve local services."
Further details about the roles will be available on our website shortly.
Photo credit: Portrait of a bridge | The "Sheppey crossing" | Les Chatfield | Flickr
