Health and Care Research Wales announces latest funding award recipients

Eleven researchers from Cardiff University have been successful in the latest round of Health and Care Research Wales funding awards.

With a combined lifetime value of more than £5.07 million, Health and Care Research Wales supports innovative research projects and researchers across Wales addressing a range of health and social care priorities.

Cardiff University recipients were awarded grants from the Integrated Funding Scheme for Translational and Clinical Research and Health and Social Care Services and Public Health Research, the Health and Care Research Wales Doctoral Fellowship award, the Health and Care Research Wales Advanced Fellowship award and the Next Steps Award.

The Integrated Funding Scheme - Arm 1 (£152,694) grant for Translational and Clinical Research was awarded to Dr Luke Davies, supporting his research into validation of biomarkers for early diagnosis of infection in pregnancy and labour.

The Integrated Funding Scheme - Arm 2 - Health and Social Care Services and Public Health Research grants were awarded to:

• Dr Hayley Reed, who received £409,939 for research into the Safety Planning for the Management of Self-harm - Development of an Intervention for Implementation in Secondary Schools in Wales.
• Professor Emma Kidd, who received an award of £233,652 for the MENOPHARM Study, which explores feasibility, acceptability, safety and costs for MENOpause support by community PHARMacists, including prescribing hormone replacement therapy for low-risk women.
• Dr Lorna Stabler, who received an award of £273,667 for her research project Beyond profit.

The Health and Care Research Wales Doctoral Fellowship award (£230,639) was awarded to Miss Bethan Jones for tracing the Early Erosion of Emotional Voice, Self Concept, and Self-Compassion in Welsh Boys - Implications for Upstream Suicide Prevention and Emotional Wellbeing Policy in Wales

The Health and Care Research Wales Advanced Fellowship awards were awarded to:

• Dr Garry Dolton for research into T-cell receptors as predictive biomarkers linking pathogen triggers to pre-symptomatic type 1 diabetes (£567,757)
• Dr Claire Maclver for research into the understanding of neuronal plasticity in dystonia - examining the mechanisms underlying motor network disruption and the adaptations involved in therapeutic response to neuromodulation (£599,947)
• Dr Alison Cooper for the RESPECT Study - Realist Economic Evaluation of the Period Proud Exercise Support Programme (£584,207)

The Next Steps Award was presented to:

• Ms Bethan Thomas (£57,420)
• Mr Adrian Iliescu (£56,023)
• Miss Hannah Trotman (£58,179)

Health and Care Research Wales awarded a total of 22 new grants in their latest round – meaning Cardiff academics secured half of them.  Health and Care Research Wales funding has been granted to a range of research projects aimed at addressing health and social care priorities, including the early diagnosis of infection in pregnancy and labour, self-harm prevention in secondary schools, menopause support through community pharmacies, and the improvement of outcomes in children’s social care.

Michael Bowdery, Head of Programmes at Health and Care Research Wales, said: “We are delighted to support this latest cohort of award recipients, whose research reflects the breadth, quality and ambition of the health and social care research community in Wales. The projects funded through our Integrated Funding Scheme will generate evidence to help address important challenges facing patients, the public and services, and enable Welsh researchers to compete UK-wide for larger follow-on awards.

“Our personal awards will support researchers at different stages of their careers to develop their skills, expertise and leadership potential.”