Primary Care Research Centre
Primary Care Research Centre

Collaborations

View some of our key collaborations that help fund and support world leading research at Southampton.

NIHR School for Primary Care Research

Renewed funding from the NIHR for the next five years (2021-2026) 

Due to the high quality of its research, the Primary Care Research Centre has succeeded in open competition in being a member of the NIHR School for Primary Care Research (SPCR), which comprises the 9 best performing academic departments in England, for three consecutive 5 year terms. The SPCR funding brings great advantages to the Centre.

We are able to support  the next generation of researchers. Not only through fellowships funded as part of the SPCR, but by using ‘seedcorn’ money provided for departments to use flexibly.

We have the ability for efficient pump priming money to lever further funds from major funding streams. Two examples are our Home BP grant which enabled us to win the PGfAR Integrating Digital Interventions into Patient Self-Management Support (DIPSS) Programme (led by Lucy Yardley), and Tony Kendrick's  CPRD study of Antidepressant Prescribing work (214). This created the leverage for Tony's PGfAR REDUCE Programme (REviewing long term anti-Depressant Use by Careful monitoring in Everyday practice (REDUCE) programme). Both of these programmes address major issues for primary care in how we can more efficiently manage chronic illness and the use of longer term medication.

We can support work addressing major public health issues in primary care where it has been difficult to get funding otherwise:

  • antibiotic stewardship
  • funding projects investigating herbal and other approaches that could be used instead of antibiotics in the initial management of infections (ATAFUTI assesing Uva-Ursi, NSAIDs for UTIs and HATRIC investigating Pelargonium for chest infections)

We are able to fund large scale definitive projects advancing the field where it has been difficult to get funding otherwise. Our example is the Cancer Diagnosis Decision Rules (CANDID) cohort. There have been no substantial prospective primary care cohorts to develop and validate a decision rule for the diagnosis and referral of patients with lung or colorectal cancer. Currently all the cancer risk scores use retrospectively collected, poorly recorded data. CANDID has recruited more than 20,000 patients to date and will provide landmark data for primary care.

Case studies

Awards

Post-doctoral fellowship award - October 2021
Dr Hilda Hounkpatin was successful in her application for an SPCR post-doctoral fellowship. This 24-month fellowship started 1 October 2021. Hilda is researching 'Social isolation, loneliness and multimorbidity: a mixed methods study.'

PhD studentship award - October 2021 
Amy Dobson is researching into 'Supporting parents and carers managing common infant symptoms.'

PhD studentship award - January 2023 
Immaculate Ajok Okello  is researching 'Support to improve type II diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) outcomes for African ethnic groups in England.' 

PhD studentship award – September 2023
Katie Read is researching ‘Improving communication about women’s health in Primary Care.'

Post-doctoral fellowship award – April 2024
Dr Hollie Birkinshaw was successful in her application for an SPCR post-doctoral fellowship. This 24-month fellowship started 1 April 2024. This fellowship is in memoriam of Professor Elizabeth Murray. Hollie is researching 'Understanding the psychological impact of musculoskeletal pain in primary care: exploring pain-related distress over time and the experiences of first contact physiotherapists.'

Post-doctoral fellowship award – September 2024
Dr Jane Vennik was successful in her application for an SPCR post-doctoral fellowship. This is a 24 month fellowship in which Jane is researching 'Developing recommendations to enhance the implementation of health action plans for people with a learning disability.' 

PhD studentship award – September 2024
Bo Adam – ‘Meetings between experts: Understanding patient and clinician (de)prescribing discussions and decisions in primary care.’

PhD studentship award – September 2024
Amana Baig – ‘Understanding complexity in the self-management of acute and chronic distress and the potential to optimise a digital intervention to support this.’

NIHR School for Primary Care Research - Career Development
View details of the Career Development Funding available.

Wellcome Trust

Southampton PCRC are proud to be a key partner in the Wellcome funded Primary Care Clinician PhD Programme which aims to increase: 

  • multi-professional research capacity in primary care and build a cadre of future research leaders in primary care
  • the evidence base for primary care practice and policy 

The £8.7M programme is funded by Wellcome and will run for 5 years, funding a total of 45 PhD studentships. 

Our vision is to create a diverse, inclusive, accountable doctoral training programme (and, indeed, wider research environment) which offers a hospitable and welcoming environment in which individuals can flourish and conduct excellent research. 

The programme includes a consortium of leading primary care institutions led by Queen Mary University of London and including all nine current members of the NIHR School for Primary Care Research (SPCR) and the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge. 

Southampton Clinical Trials Unit (SCTU)

We work with Southampton CTU to deliver several trials evaluating new technologies, treatment approaches and complex interventions. This includes shared projects around public involvement in research and promoting research inclusion. 

Some of our current funded collaborations include the following studies:

SAFA

COAT

AFLOAT

ACO

ECO

NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) Wessex

Our school is closely involved with several aspects of the NIHR ARC Wessex. 

There are four main research areas: 

  • Ageing and Dementia
  • Healthy Communities
  • Long-term Conditions
  • Workforce and Health Systems

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

We are collaborating with Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust  who provide vital hosting services for NIHR grant awards. 

We are working together to grow and improve research capacity within the local NHS through joint projects and initiatives around expanding breadth of public involvement and community engagement. 

We also work together on expanding research participation, including delivering research through schools, care homes and use of social media.

NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre (BRC)

Our researchers are part of the NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), with particularly strong engagement in the Microbiology, Immunology and Infection theme and the Respiratory and Allergy theme. We have BRC funded PhD students and bridging fellows, and work closely with the BRC leadership and engagement teams.

BRC funded PhD students based in Primary Care Research Centre

Jenna Garrod

Nour Odeh

Wessex REACH

The Wessex REACH is an NIHR supported initiative to develop research capacity in Wessex to enable healthcare professionals to take research ideas from concept to reality.