Health and Care Research Wales Faculty

In 2020/21, Health and Care Research Wales, Social Care Wales and Health Education and Improvement Wales initiated a joint review of the career and training/development pathways for health and social care researchers with a view to enabling capacity and capability in health and social care research in Wales.

The report from the Making Research Careers Work review of career pathways in health and social care in Wales, published in February 2022, set out 17 recommendations with a view to improving opportunities across research career pathways for health and social care researchers in Wales.

The establishment of the Health and Care Research Wales Faculty is a key step in addressing these recommendations. As a core pillar of a national research career pathway, the Faculty provides support, guidance and training for its members who are health and social care researchers from a range of professional backgrounds and across all career stages. Its aim is to progress a collective health and social care researcher community who are assured of a supportive environment which enables them to conduct their research with impact and progress along their individual research career pathways. The Faculty and wider Research Careers Pathways programme of work will be led by Professor Monica Busse.

The Health and Care Research Wales Faculty will:

• Coordinate and oversee a range of widely accessible (and targeted where needed) personal research award schemes for health and social care researchers across professions and career stages  
• Publish researcher equality, diversity and inclusion data and develop action plans to help facilitate the equal representation of all groups, across career stages and professions, in the Welsh researcher population 
• Progress the individualised and peer learning and development and mentorship that our health and social care personal award holders need to advance their research careers 
• Foster interdisciplinary interactions and networking across the faculty community of health and social care personal award holders from all backgrounds and all areas of Wales 
• Enable opportunities to share high-quality faculty research with relevant UK and international communities with a view to raising the profile of Welsh research and promoting the research career opportunities of the researchers themselves.