³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ

³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ is a founding partner of the newly launched NIHR Applied Research Collaboration London (ARC London), a landmark pan-London partnership backed by £22 million of government funding to tackle some of the UK’s most pressing health and social care challenges.

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration London (ARC London) brings together NHS trusts, universities and other expertise from across the capital to deliver high-quality applied research and support the translation of evidence into practice. The partnership will play a critical role in ensuring research delivers real-world improvements in health and care for patients, communities and the public.  

ARC London will be hosted by Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, with the ARC leadership team based across King’s College London (Professor Laura Shallcross, Director), University College London (Professor Ingrid Wolfe, Co-Director) and ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ (Associate Professor Ana Luisa Neves, Deputy Director). The collaboration spans 20 partner organisations across the capital.

The new ARC London is part of a collaborative network of 11 ARCs spread across the country, supported by a total NIHR investment of £170 million over five years. The ARCs work together to share expertise and learning to support research and implementation at scale. ARC London will also partner with other NIHR ARCs, NIHR infrastructure across London and partners in the life sciences sector, creating collaborations to support innovative new medicines, technology and models of care into practice sooner. 

Professor Marian Knight, Scientific Director for NIHR Infrastructure, said: "This new London ARC will play a vital role in turning research into real-world improvements in health and care, generating evidence across the capital that benefits communities nationwide. By bringing together partners from every corner of London, we have a unique opportunity to collaborate, innovate, drive economic growth, and deliver meaningful impact for patients." 

ARC London will respond to the issues that matter most to people living with the greatest burden of disease in London and beyond. It will help to address health inequalities by embedding inclusive approaches across all projects and programmes, ensuring that findings are relevant for a broad and diverse population and that any resulting interventions can be successfully delivered to the people who need them most. 

ARC London will focus on four research themes:  

• Neighbourhood health and social care: supporting independent living, reducing emergency hospital visits, and better helping people with multiple health and care needs throughout their lives  

• Prevention and early intervention in people with major conditions, such as cardiovascular, renal and metabolic disease and mental ill health 

• Productivity and economic growth, to support the highest quality health and care services at an affordable cost 

• Data sciences for healthcare, to help understand people’s health and care needs earlier to prevent illness and improve care 

These themes will generate research that answers the biggest challenges in the health and social care sectors, supporting the government’s ambitions for the transformation of NHS, public health and social care services.  

Professor Laura Shallcross, Director of ARC London and Professor at University College London, said: "By partnering with patients, communities and people working across the health, public health and social care systems, the London ARC has a major opportunity to address some of the most important health challenges that are facing society. We are excited about what we might be able to achieve together and want Londoners and health and care practitioners to work with us to shape the ARC and its priorities." 

³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ's role in ARC London 

³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ plays a central role in the new collaboration, with Dr Ana Luisa Neves, Associate Professor in Digital Health at ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ's School of Public Health, serving as Deputy Director of ARC London. 

Dr Neves said: "Our priorities and themes are focused on translating research and evidence into practical solutions that support healthier communities, a more sustainable health and care system, and strengthen our capacity as a system to harness innovation and respond to future needs. We have a unique opportunity to connect research, innovation and expertise across the capital and turn evidence into solutions that can make a real difference to people's lives." 

A number of academic staff from across ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ’s Faculty of Medicine will form part of the ARC’s leadership team. Dr Thomas Woodcock, Senior Research Fellow in the School of Public Health will Co-Lead the Data Science AI and Predictive Analytics theme.  

Dr Ana Luisa Neves will Co-Lead the Productivity and Growth theme with Dr Benedict Hayhoe, Clinical Lecturer in Primary Care, as Deputy Theme Lead. Professor Dougal Hargreaves, Professor of Paediatrics & Population Health in the School of Public Health, will serve as Population Impact Cluster Lead for Children, Young People and Families.  

Anna Lawrence-Jones, Public Involvement Lead at the Institute of Global Health Innovation, will lead on Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement across the ARC London. Anna will grow a team of public involvement experts to ensure that communities across London are meaningfully involved in research projects and programme governance. There will be an initial focus on three Population Impact Clusters: children and young people and families; adults with multiple long-term conditions; and vulnerable groups - recognising there is diversity and overlap within these populations. The public involvement team will work closely with community organisations to ensure that communities, including from underserved and underrepresented groups, across London are appropriately supported to influence the research, so that the findings will be relevant to the diverse population of London and beyond. 

Building on a strong legacy at ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ 

³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ's involvement in ARC London builds on a proud and successful history of applied research collaboration. The School of Public Health hosted the NIHR ARC North West London (NWL) from 2019, one of three regional London ARCs. 

Over its lifetime, NIHR ARC NWL delivered significant impact for the health and care system, generating actionable evidence and translating research into policy, practice and service improvement. The programme placed a strong emphasis on engaging communities and incorporating lived experience into research design and delivery, contributing to efforts to address health inequalities and ensure research better reflected the needs of underserved populations. 

The ARC NWL also made a sustained contribution to research capacity building across academic, clinical and community settings, supporting researchers, practitioners and community partners to engage in applied research and co-production. The values, networks and approaches developed through NIHR ARC NWL continue to inform applied research activity at ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ and across the wider NIHR landscape. 

The full list of ARC London partners includes: Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, University College London, King's College London, ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ, Kingston University, King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London South Bank University, Brunel University London, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London School of Economics and Political Science, Queen Mary University of London, City St George's (University of London), University of West London, Barts Health NHS Trust, Health Innovation Network South London, King's Health Partners, University College London Partners, ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ College Health Partners and the UK Health Security Agency.