£20 million for public health research
24 January 2008
The Medical Research Council has contributed to a £20 million investment to establish five public health research centres of excellence that aim to strengthen research into complex issues like obesity, smoking and health inequality. The funding partnership has been brought together by the UK Clinical Research Collaboration.
The new centres are based in Newcastle, Cardiff, Belfast, Cambridge and Nottingham. Each Centre will receive up to £5m over 5 years to create new academic posts and develop training and career development programmes. The funding will also provide the technical staff, IT systems, equipment, administrative support, research facilities and other infrastructure needed to support high quality research.
Partners in the £20million investment are the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, the Economic and Social Research Council, the Health and Social Care Research & Development Office for Northern Ireland, the Medical Research Council, the National Institute for Health Research, the Wales Office of Research and Development - Welsh Assembly Government and the Wellcome Trust.
The centres of excellence are:
- Diet and Physical Activity Public Health Research Centre, University of Cambridge (in collaboration with the University of East Anglia, the MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit in Glasgow and the MRC Centre in Cambridge including the Biostatistics Unit, Epidemiology Unit, the Dunn Human Nutrition Unit and the Collaborative Centre for Human Nutrition Research) – directed by Professor Nick Wareham
- Centre for Translational Research in Public Health, led by Newcastle University (in collaboration with Durham, Northumbria, Sunderland and Teesside Universities) – directed by Professor Martin White.
- Centre for the Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement, Cardiff University (in collaboration with Swansea University and Bristol University) - directed by Professor Laurence Moore.
- UKCRC Northern Ireland Centre of Excellence for Public Health Research, Queens University Belfast (in partnership with the Institute of Public Health in Ireland) – directed by Professor Frank Kee.
- The UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies, University of Nottingham (a strategic partnership between seven of the leading tobacco control and policy research groups in the UK: Nottingham; Bath; Edinburgh; Birmingham; Stirling; Queen Mary, University of London; and University College London) – directed by Professor John Britton.
Press contact
Phone: 020 7637 6011
press.office@headoffice.mrc.ac.uk
