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Six research leaders awarded flagship NIHR career development awards

Please see the 2022 NIHR Research Professors from left to right: Prof David Taylor-Robinson, Prof Laura Shallcross, Professor Deborah Stocken, Dr Laurie Tomlinson, Prof Sian Taylor-Phillips, and Prof David Clifton

Published: 08 February 2023

The NIHR has today announced the latest researchers to become NIHR Research Professors.

The NIHR Research Professorships scheme funds researchers to promote the effective translation of research. It also aims to strengthen research leadership at the highest academic levels.

This year, six leading researchers will receive five-year awards of up to £2 million. They will be conducting research covering a wide range issues.

This includes:

  • tackling child health inequality
  • interventions to reduce infection
  • using data to inform guidance and to help patients
  • using evidence to support policy decisions

Since 2011, 68 people have been successful gaining the competitive award. This includes NIHR chief executive, Professor Lucy Chappell and NIHR Academy Dean, Professor Waljit Dhillo.

Professor Waljit Dhillo said: “It is an honour to welcome these six outstanding researchers as the latest cohort of NIHR Research Professors. They all have excellent research records and will play a crucial role in improving the health and wealth of the nation through their research.”

Professor Lucy Chappell said: “The NIHR Research Professorship is the flagship award for the NIHR. It funds researchers to translate new discoveries into improved diagnostics and treatments, and improvements in health and care. This year, our Research Professors are working in a breadth of areas that are relevant and topical, including digital health, clinical trials, population health, and social care research. I am delighted to welcome them and look forward to seeing their research progress and the difference it will make to the lives of people and communities across the UK.”

NIHR Research Professors

The latest cohort of awardees are:

  • Professor David Taylor-Robinson, Professor of Public Health and Policy, Honorary Consultant in Child Public Health at the University of Liverpool. His research topic is: 'Tackling child health inequality. An interventional epidemiology platform to inform policy'
  • Professor Laura Shallcross, Professor of Public Health and Translational Data Science at University College London. Her research topic is: 'Care Home Evidence-based 'Interventions to Reduce Infection that are Sustainable and Holistic (CHERISH)'
  • Professor David Clifton, Professor of Clinical Machine Learning at the University of Oxford. His research topic is: 'Predictive Machine Learning and Digital Health for Improving Patient Outcomes'
  • Professor Deborah Stocken, Professor of Clinical Trials Research at the University of Leeds. Her research topic is 'Statistical Methods in Surgical Trials Evaluation and Research'
  • Professor Sian Taylor-Phillips, Professor of Population Health at the University of Warwick. Her research topic is: 'Population Health Screening Benefits and Harms: Evidence Synthesis methods to support policy-making'
  • Professor Laurie Tomlinson, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Her research topic is: 'INTEGRATE: Using routinely-collected healthcare data to inform clinical guidance and improve population health'

Read more about the latest Research Professorship awardees and their research.

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