Nottingham

Precision Health & Drug Safety (PRISM) research group

The PRISM research group carries out research to better identify people, or groups of people at risk of disease, and their response to specific interventions or treatments. This includes the prevention and care of major health problems, such as cancer and cardiovascular disease, and common inherited disorders. Our group also conducts research on the safe and effective use of medicines. This includes investigating the prevalence, nature and causes of medication errors in general practice; evaluating patient safety initiatives; undertaking epidemiological work to assess the benefits and harms of medicines used in primary care (such as antidepressants, anticholinergic drugs and hormone replacement therapy) and assessing the safety of primary care organisations. The group seeks to influence policy and practice so that effective interventions to improve patient safety and precision healthcare are rolled out across the health service. Other research areas within the group include studying the epidemiology of diseases (including mental health conditions, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and dementia), assessing patterns of polypharmacy and evaluation of medication reviews.

This research is achieved through application of emerging techniques in data science and advances in genomics, using large electronic health databases, combined with “translational” health service research, leading to better-targeted and effective primary healthcare.

The three research subgroups within the PRISM group, described above, are offering joint supervision of PhDs and fellowships in overlapping areas of interest, for example:

·     risk stratification in chronic disease management and multimorbidity

·     improving drug safety

·     risk prediction models for disease incorporating emerging novel markers

·     understanding and quantifying polypharmacy

·     primary care genomics health service research

For further information see webpages for our research subgroups and contact details for discussing possible projects:

https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/primarycarestratifiedmedicine/index.aspx

or contact: Professors Nadeem Qureshi nadeem.qureshi@nottingham.ac.uk or Joe Kai joe.kai@nottingham.ac.uk

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/primarycareepidemiology/index.aspx

or contact: Professor Carol Coupland carol.coupland@nottingham.ac.uk

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/medicinesafetyeffectivehealthcare/index.aspx

or contact: Professor Tony Avery tony.avery@nottingham.ac.uk

Injury Epidemiology and Prevention

The Injury Epidemiology and Prevention Research Group specialises in the epidemiology and prevention of injuries in all age groups, including:

• preventing falls in older people,
• preventing injuries in childhood,
• preventing intentional injury,
• measuring the longer term impact of injuries,
• improving injury outcomes and
• evaluating interventions in primary care and community settings.

The group makes use of wide range of research methodologies including randomised controlled trials, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, observational studies and qualitative methods.

For further information see: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/injuryresearch/index.aspx or contact: Professor Denise Kendrick denise.kendrick@nottingham.ac.uk or Professor Elizabeth Orton Elizabeth.orton@nottingham.ac.uk

Smoking in pregnancy

With strong, active international research collaborations Nottingham’s Smoking in Pregnancy Group leads research into pharmaceutical, digital and counselling interventions for smoking cessation in pregnancy. We also investigate use of e-cigarettes (vaping) in pregnancy, including how vaping could be effective for preventing relapse to smoking in the postpartum. We comprise health psychologists, applied researchers and statisticians so, any fellow working within our group will benefit from effective multidisciplinary supervision. We welcome independent colleagues who propose their own research questions within our broad area of expertise but are also very experienced at helping junior clinical academics to develop ideas.

For further information see: www.nottingham.ac.uk/go/SmokinginPregnancy or contact: Professor Tim Coleman: tim.coleman@nottingham.ac.uk

Medical Education

The Primary Care Education Unit (PCEU) is part of the Centre for Academic Primary Care at the University of Nottingham’s School of Medicine. The PCEU team quality assure the delivery of clinical education to undergraduates across all five years of the medical curriculum. The team has a proven track record in conducting research in medical education, including projects commissioned by the Royal College of General Practitioners, Health Education England and NHS England.  Our research themes include innovative methods for delivering teaching and assessment, developing professionalism in training and promoting careers in primary care. We have broad expertise in quantitative and qualitative research methodologies with strong collaboration with other senior researchers in primary care.

Examples of projects include:

• The utility of Situational Judgement Tests (SJTs) for assessing and predicting  professionalism in medical education.
• Developing and evaluating innovative models for building capacity and delivering clinical learning in primary care, such as near-peer education.
• Factors within clinical training that influence student career choices in General Practice
• Developing and evaluating digital innovations for the delivery of clinical learning, such as Virtual, Augmented and Mixed-Reality technologies.

For further information contact: Professor Jaspal Taggar Jaspal.taggar@nottingham.ac.uk

Centre of Evidence Based Dermatology

The Centre of Evidence Based Dermatology (CEBD) has an international reputation for skin research and evidence-based practice. The three core areas of our activities are systematic reviews, clinical trials/epidemiology, and knowledge mobilisation, with the needs of patients and the public driving this work.

Our focus is on:

• Skin diseases in young people (e.g eczema, childhood psoriasis, acne)
• Skin diseases of the elderly (e.g. bullous diseases, skin cancer, cellulitis)
• Women’s health (e.g. vulval skin disease)
• Diagnostic criteria and outcome research

The centre hosts the co-ordinating centre for the UK Dermatology Clinical Trials Network (UK DCTN).

For further information see: www.nottingham.ac.uk/dermatology, or contact Professor Kim Thomas kim.thomas@nottingham.ac.uk 

Rehabilitation, Ageing and Wellbeing

The Centre for Rehabilitation and Ageing Research (CRAR) lead by Professor Kate Radford is home to a highly motivated collective of clinical and academic healthcare professionals (doctors, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech and language therapists, and health psychologists) with an impressive research portfolio in two broad thematic areas. Rehabilitation, including Neurological, Vocational and Stroke Rehabilitation, and Ageing and Care of Older People, including care home residents.  Research runs across the translational pipeline, moving innovations in the lab into clinical practice, translating and implementing sustainable service improvement for far-reaching impact, in partnership with our Patient and Public Involvement (PPIE) Partners.

The group boasts methodological expertise in developing and evaluating complex interventions, multicentre (and feasibility) randomised controlled trials testing the clinical and cost effectiveness of rehabilitation interventions, implementation research, including theory informed process evaluations, translational research, evaluating rehabilitation technologies and developing and validating standardised tests and outcome measures.

Home to two NIHR Senior Investigators (Professors Logan and Gordon), CRAR hosts the ARC East Midlands Building Community Resilience and Enabling Independence theme, led by Professor Adam Gordon and is directly linked to Nottingham NIHR BRC through its Musculoskeletal, Surgery, Inflammation & Recovery theme, and to the EPSRC funded Rehabilitation Technology Network, building the community and creating the infrastructure for advanced rehabilitation technologies.

CRAR is directly aligned with the National Rehabilitation Centre (NRC) https://www.nationalrehabilitationcentre.nhs.uk/, (Co-lead by Professor Pip Logan), driving the ambition for World Leading Rehabilitation Research - combining our clinical-academic rehabilitation and teaching expertise with the latest lab-based and rehabilitation technology.

Aims/Goals

Our aim is to deliver excellent translational and applied health research, across the translational pipeline, moving innovations in the lab into clinical practice.

We promote a multi-disciplinary, collaborative research and teaching environment that supports our ambition to deliver world-leading rehabilitation and ageing research, improves health and social care outcomes, and impacts on the health and wealth of the nation.

For further information see: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/medicine/research/research-areas/rehabilitation-and-ageing/index.aspx  or contact: Professor Kate Radford Kate.Radford@nottingham.ac.uk   

We have a Research Skills Programme providing short seminars, covering broad topics such as health economics and qualitative research, as well as general research skills such as writing papers and presenting at conferences. In addition, we also offer access to courses on critical appraisal and research design skills.