Working together

Extensive partnership and collaboration takes place across all Health and Care Research Wales activity and makes many of our achievements possible. Whether at an international, UK or all-Wales level – and whether we are networking, coordinating, cooperating or collaborating – partnership working is crucial if we are to function at our best.

We work strategically and practically across multiple sectors in health, social care, the third sector and industry. We collaborate with a very wide range of partners including the other UK health and social care departments, the public, researchers, research funders, and others.

The benefits of partnership working are immense, providing greater expertise, essential insights and sometimes inspiration as we work together to continuously improve the research environment, share and learn from best practice and encourage innovation.

Strategic working

Health and Care Research Wales works in close collaboration with its UK partners to add value and ensure the effective use of research funding to maximise impact.

As a member of the Office for Strategic Coordination of Health Research (OSCHR), Health and Care Research Wales works with the other UK government health and social care departments, the relevant UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) partners (including the Medical Research Council) and key third sector and commercial partners, to coordinate activity across the health and care research spectrum in the UK. OSCHR ensures UK funders direct resource to areas of need in a coherent and consistent way, from investment in underpinning science, early stage innovation and prevention research, through to service organisation and delivery.

The broader alliance of research funders and other organisations within the UK Clinical Research Collaboration (UKCRC)  provides a forum for wide-ranging discussion, and action, on strategic and practical issues that affect us all.

Health and Care Research Wales continues to be a member of the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) which brings the UK government health and social care departments, research councils, Cancer Research UK and other charitable funders together in a national research effort in the fight against cancer.

We also continue to actively participate, as a co-convenor, in the international funders’ collaboration, the Ensuring Value in Research (EViR) Forum, which works to advance the practices of health-related research funding to maximise the benefits of research.

We also collaborate closely with colleagues in the rest of the UK, including our equivalents in the other UK nations: the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) in England, the Chief Scientists Office (CSO) in Scotland  and Health and Social Care (HSC) Research & Development Division in Northern Ireland.

Our strong partnership working with the Health Research Authority (HRA) has continued to grow ensuring there is a common framework for researchers across the UK. 

Health and Care Research Wales is committed to public involvement, putting the public at the centre of all that we do.

Partnership funding

Working with other funders enables us to offer additional funding opportunities to researchers in Wales. We do this by:

• engaging in cross-funder initiatives (such as the UK Prevention Research Partnership, Health Data Research UK);
• participating in large-scale funding schemes run by others (such as a range of agreed NIHR programmes); and
• working with specific funders, such as Cancer Research UK, Fight for Sight and the Scar Free Foundation, to offer bespoken funding opportunities.

Health and Care Research Wales welcomes approaches and discussion with funders looking to partner fund with us.

Current opportunities can be found on our funding schemes page.

Industry

Working with the life sciences sector is pivotal to achieving better health for everyone, improving the patient experience and delivering a high-quality and safe service that improves health outcomes. In Wales, these goals are central to everything that we do.

Our relationship with Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry, to achieve the clinical research ambitions in the life sciences sector deal, is also key in promoting Wales as part of the UKPlc offer to the pharmaceutical industry.

Wales has a vibrant research culture involving the NHS, industry and academia. Different initiatives have helped to streamline the processes for undertaking studies, making Wales an attractive proposition to industry. Health and Care Research Wales supports and delivers a varied portfolio of industry research across Wales. Studies range from first in human complex cancer trials of new chemical entities, to less invasive real-world observational studies.

Find out how we can help you plan, set-up and successfully deliver research in Wales through our suite of services dedicated to commercial research in Wales.

To discuss your commercial research study and how we can help, contact our dedicated industry team by emailing industry-research@wales.nhs.uk