Further information about these organisations is given below
Who we are
The following health research organisations are currently involved in the City of Research collaboration
Bradford Institute of Health Research
Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is responsible for providing hospital services for the people of Bradford and communities across Yorkshire. We serve a core population of around 500,000 people and provide specialist services for some 1.1 million.
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Our 5,500 staff work over several sites, including Bradford Royal Infirmary, which provides the majority of inpatient services, and St Luke’s Hospital, which predominantly provides outpatient and rehabilitation services. We also manage local community hospitals at Eccleshill, Westwood Park, Westbourne Green, and Shipley.
The Bradford Institute for Health Research (BIHR) was established in 2007 by Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (BTHFT) in recognition of the unique research partnership between the primary and secondary care NHS Trusts in Bradford and Airedale and the universities of Bradford, Leeds and York. Since then the BIHR has developed and increased its expertise in clinical research and notably applied health research and now has a reputation of being one of the leading centres in conducting applied health research in the country.
Overview of our research
The BIHR is part of the Bradford Health Research Hub which provides a critical mass of research expertise within the Trust which includes accommodation for the renowned applied health research teams (Born in Bradford, Academic Unit for Ageing and Stroke Research and the Yorkshire Quality and Safety Research Group) as well as some of the Trust’s clinical research teams while others are based within the clinical areas.
Also as part of the Hub there is the Wolfson Centre for Applied Health Research which brings together researchers from the Universities of Leeds and Bradford with clinicians from Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. It has been made possible thanks to a £1m award from national charity.
By combining the expertise of health researchers with clinicians who have daily contact with patients, the centre will ensure that its findings are put rapidly into practice – resulting in better health and social care for those who need it most, right here in Yorkshire.
The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Patient Recruitment Centre: Bradford is also located within the BIHR and was awarded to the Trust after a national competitive bidding exercise in 2019. This is one of five new national patient recruitment centres to enable more late phase commercial clinical research to be delivered within the NHS and make it easier for people to take part in studies, funded through a £7 million investment as part of the Government’s Life Sciences Industrial Strategy and Sector Deal 2 – a series of measures to strengthen the UK environment for clinical research.
More information about the Trust’s research can be found by going to our dedicated research website.
Airedale NHS Foundation Trust
Airedale NHS Foundation Trust is an NHS hospital and community services trust providing high quality, personalised, acute, elective, specialist and community care for a population of over 200,000 people from a widespread area covering 700 square miles within Yorkshire and Lancashire – stretching as far as the Yorkshire Dales and the National Park in North Yorkshire, reaching areas of North Bradford and Guiseley in West Yorkshire and extending into Colne and Pendle in the East of Lancashire. We provide services from our main hospital site, Airedale General Hospital, and at other locations across the community – such as Castleberg Hospital, near Settle, Coronation Hospital in Ilkley and Skipton Hospital. We employ over 2,500 staff and have over 350 committed volunteers.
Overview of our research
The Research and Development Team at Airedale has a long history of research dating back almost 50 years and is committed to providing as many patients as possible with an opportunity to enrol on a research study if they wish to do so. We cover research in all speciality groups across the Trust and at all stages of the life cycle. Our experienced team provides the following services:
- Research support and development
- Research governance
- Delivery of research Trust-wide
- Engagement and collaboration with partners within the NHS and academic institutions
- Dissemination and transfer of knowledge
- Promotion of evidence-based practice
For further information about research at Airedale please visit: http://www.airedale-trust.nhs.uk/services/research/ or contact us by email at: anhsft.researchanddevelopment@nhs.net
Telephone: 01535 292838
Bradford District Care Trust
Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust provides award-winning community, mental health, learning disability and children’s services in Bradford, Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven, to support people to stay physically and mentally well, as well as providing children’s services in Wakefield.
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The Trust has almost 3,000 staff, delivering 50 different services across 100 sites. The majority of Trust services are delivered in the community in individuals’ homes, community centres or GP practices, with two major inpatient sites for those with acute mental health issues at Lynfield Mount Hospital in Bradford and the Airedale Centre for Mental Health in Steeton. The Care Trust works with partners, individuals and their carers, so that people can stay healthy, close to home and has a strong track record of doing things differently, working with others to achieve its vision of connecting people to the best quality care, when and where they need it.
Overview of our research
Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust is committed to developing and undertaking research that enable us to deliver high quality, evidence-based care and services to people in our local community. Our aims are to:
- Produce high quality research that will benefit local services and local people but will also make a significant contribution to building the evidence base,
- Build a strong link between research and practice that allows ideas for research to be generated from practice, and develops research results into best practice,
- Contribute to a national profile in mental health, learning disability and primary care research,
- Facilitate collaborations between academic partners and aim to attract increased funding and high calibre research and researchers,
- Actively include service users and carers at all levels of research activity.
To help us achieve this, our dedicated team of research professionals support high quality health research that reflects the diversity of our local population and paves the way for next generation care.
Bradford District and Craven Health and Care Partnership
We are the health and care partnership for Bradford District and Craven. We Act as One with the ambition of keeping people ‘happy, healthy at home’.
Our health and care partnership for Bradford District and Craven serves a population of around 650,000 people with a health and care workforce of around 33,000 supported by over 5,000 voluntary and community sector organisations and groups. The partnership is made up of NHS, local authority, Healthwatch, community and voluntary sector organisations and independent care providers.
Working on behalf of Bradford District and Craven Health and Care Partnership as part of the West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board, the West Yorkshire Research & Development (WY R&D) team works closely with partners from academia and the health sector to increase evidence-based innovation and knowledge exchange. WY R&D provides research and development support to all general practices across West Yorkshire.
Overview of our research
WY R&D ensures that all research activity that is led by Bradford District and Craven Health and Care Partnership or carried out within general practices in Bradford District and Craven is undertaken in accordance with current regulatory and constitutional requirements.
To find out more about Bradford District and Craven Health and Care Partnership please visit: https://bdcpartnership.co.uk/
To find out more about West Yorkshire Research & Development please visit: https://www.westyorksrd.nhs.uk/
University of Bradford
The University of Bradford has a rich history of making knowledge work at Bradford. Our mission is simple: to drive sustainable social and economic development through outstanding teaching, research and innovation. As a friendly, inclusive institution, we enable our staff, students and partners – individuals and organisations – to make a difference through collaboration. The pioneering city of Bradford inspires us to change the world for the better. And our peers, partners and regulators recognise the quality of what we do.
Overview of our research
Our research themes reflect the University’s research strengths. They are Health and Care, The Engineered Environment and Sustainable Societies.
We have a strong track record in health research including the Wolfson Centre for Applied Health Research, a partnership with Bradford Institute for Health Research and the University of Leeds to bring together health researchers, and the Digital Health Enterprise Zone, a physical and virtual facility to bring people together to innovate in digital health.
Many of our graduates go on to local, national and international careers in healthcare practice and industry. We develop new models of health care delivery, health promotion and technology enabled treatment models to reduce illness and inequalities and to improve the experience of patients, carers and practitioners.
Our engineering innovations improve fundamental understanding of engineering and applied science and find effective, safe and resilient technological solutions to real world problems and needs. We work closely with partners to co-design projects, often employ our undergraduate and postgraduate students to support them.
Our work on sustainable societies probes organisations, governments and policies to support growth in economic, political and relational well-being for current and future generations. Our researchers in management, social sciences law, as well as other areas, help us gather and apply this knowledge to projects that create better futures for the world’s citizens.
Digital Health Enterprise Zone
The Digital Health Enterprise Zone (DHEZ) brings people together to develop digital health innovations that improve the lives of people living with long-term conditions by working with communities, business, researchers, health care professionals and students to create patient centred solutions.
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The DHEZ benefits from a purpose-designed building on the University of Bradford campus, which houses 3 floors of health space. It has public physiotherapy and eye clinics, a technology house for simulating health innovations in the home, numerous multi-purpose clinical rooms, events and meeting space and business incubation units.
We are leaders in digital innovation because of the collaborations we create. These collaborations are enabled by our physical spaces and strong relationships with partners and the public. Alongside our research and student engagement, we work closely with the NHS, Bradford Council, and Leeds City Region.
Overview of our research
Our researchers form teams that combine expertise in health, technology, sociology and management to work with health care professionals and businesses to explore and seek funding to develop and evaluate patient-centred digital health solutions. By combining different types of research expertise, we can develop unique ideas that get to the heart of the problem. DHEZ introduces researchers to real problems through its relationships and coordinates teams to come together to discuss solutions.
We combine University expertise in the following areas to support our digital health projects:
- Physiotherapy
- Nursing
- Midwifery
- Paramedics
- Dementia
- Pharmacy
- Psychology
- Artificial intelligence
- Internet of things
- Wireless communications
- Computing – software, hardware, big data
- Media – Web, apps, gaming
- Medical engineering
- Management
We run a monthly webinar series to share case studies and describe our digital health expertise with anyone who is interested in attending.
Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust
Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust is the regions provider of urgent and emergency care. We provide care across almost 6,000 square miles of varied terrain, serving a population over five million people across Yorkshire and the Humber, ensuring patients get the right response to their care needs as quickly as possible, wherever they live.
We employ 6,805* staff, who together with over 900 volunteers, enable us to provide a vital 24-hour, seven-days-a week, emergency and healthcare service. We receive 999 calls into our emergency operations centres (Wakefield and York), respond to 999 calls, provide the regions Integrated Urgent Care service which included NHS 111, and transport patients to attend hospital appointments and for non-emergency treatment with our Patient Transport Service (PTS). Our Research and Development Department report to the Executive Medical Director and the team comprises a Head of Research and Development, a Research and Development Manager and an expanding team of Research Paramedics, a Paramedic Research Fellow, a Research Data Analyst, Research Co-ordinators and a Research Officer.
Overview of our research
Pre-hospital research can encompass a wide range of activities, ranging from the analysis of routinely collected data to randomised controlled trials. Additionally, we are committed to a collaborative approach to research and works closely with a wide range of other service providers and research institutions. All research is conducted within a rigorous research governance framework.
We have a wide portfolio of research to invest in staff and public health, whilst utilising our unique position in the pre-hospital emergency environment to improve services. We support studies in many different disease areas, with a focus on patients who have an urgent or emergency care presentation. More information can be found on our website.
