Applied Research Collaborations - Research themes, national leadership areas and national priority areas

Published: 01 October 2021
Version: VVersion 2.0 - May 2023
3 min read

Research themes and national leadership areas

Each NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARCs) undertakes research on a range of themes. They also work together on a number of national leadership areas.

Research projects and collaborations between the ARCs drive progress in applied health research and implementation science in areas of national priority.

ARC	National leadership area	Research themes
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration East of England	Mental health over the life course Palliative and end of life care	Research themes: Ageing and multi-morbidity Population evidence and data science Inclusive involvement in research for practice-led health and social care Mental health over the life course Palliative and end of life care Prevention and early detection in health and social care Cross-cutting theme: Health economics and prioritisation in health and social care
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration East Midlands	Equality, diversity and inclusion of under-represented groups Multimorbidity	Research themes: Mental health and wellbeing Managing multi-morbidity Building community resilience and enabling independence Cross-cutting themes: Translating and implementing sustainable service improvement Ethnicity and Health Inequalities Data2health
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Greater Manchester	Economics	Research themes: Digital health Healthy ageing Organising care Economic sustainability Mental health Cross-cutting themes: Evaluation Implementation science
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Kent, Surrey and Sussex	Social care	Research themes: Social care Starting well: Children’s mental health Ageing Well: Living well with dementia Primary and community services Cross-cutting themes: Co-production Public health Digital innovation Health and social care economics
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North East and North Cumbria	Inequalities Prevention	Research themes: Supporting children and families Multimorbidity, ageing and frailty Integrating physical, mental health and social care Prevention, early intervention and behaviour change Cross-cutting themes: Inequalities and marginalised communities Enabling methodologies Knowledge mobilisation and implementation science
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North Thames	Population health	Research themes: Mental health: tackling social and institutional inequalities in mental health systems Multimorbidity: understanding clusters and evaluating care Population health and social care Cross-cutting themes: Innovation and implementation science Health economics and data
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Northwest London	Cardiovascular	Research themes: Child population health Multimorbidity Cross-cutting themes: Digital health Innovation and evaluation Information and intelligence Patient, public, community engagement and involvement Collaborative learning and capacity building
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North West Coast		Research themes: Person-centred complex care Improving population health Equitable place-based health and care Health and care across the life course Cross-cutting themes: Methodological innovation, development, adaptation and support Care and health informatics
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Oxford and Thames Valley	Behavioural science	Research themes: Disease prevention through health behaviour change Patient self-management Mental health across the life course Community health and social care improvement Applied digital health Cross-cutting themes: Novel methods to aid and evaluate implementation
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South London	Mental health Palliative and end-of-life care	Research themes: Alcohol Children and young people Maternity and perinatal mental health Palliative and end of life care Patient and public involvement research Public health and multimorbidities Social care Cross-cutting themes: Applied informatics Economics and biostatistics Implementation science and research
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South West Peninsula	Child health Operational research modelling	Research themes: Dementia Mental health Public health Complex care Cross-cutting theme: Methods for research and improvement
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Wessex	Ageing and dementia	Main themes: Long-term conditions: integrating person centred approaches to optimise healthy living Ageing and dementia: supporting independent living for people with complex health needs Healthy communities: improving public health across the life course Health systems & workforce: supporting health and social care by improving service delivery
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration West	Applied health informatics	Research themes: Healthier childhoods Integrated and optimal care Mental health Public health and prevention Cross-cutting themes: Applied data science Behavioural and qualitative science Evidence Health economics
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration West Midlands		Research themes: Long-term conditions Acute care interfaces Integrated care in youth mental health Maternity Cross-cutting themes: Organisational science Research methodology, informatics and rapid response Public health Social care
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Yorkshire and Humber	Urgent and emergency care	Research themes: Older people with frailty Early life and prevention Urgent and emergency care Mental and physical multimorbidity Cross-cutting themes: Health economics, evaluation, equality Improvement science

National priority areas

The ARC national priority areas programme brings together the 15 regional ARCs from across England to work with partners, patients and the public to deliver collective projects that investigate and tackle the most pressing health and care problems.

The national priority areas are seven areas of applied health and care research that benefit from £13.1 million NIHR funding over three years to deliver ‘real world’ impact. The priority areas have been identified by the NIHR as areas that will benefit from national cross ARC collaboration.

Working together, the NIHR ARCs will look to develop evidence to inform decision making, enable effective implementation and change practice to address the identified areas.

National priority area	Lead ARCs
Adult social care	NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Kent, Surrey and Sussex
Ageing, including dementia and frailty	NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Wessex
Child health and maternity	NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South West Peninsula
Health and care inequalities	NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North East and North Cumbria
Mental health	NIHR Applied Research Collaboration East of England NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South London
Multimorbidity	NIHR Applied Research Collaboration East Midlands
Prevention, including behavioural risk factors	NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North East and North Cumbria