Diet and Activity Research Translation (DART) Collaboration

Overview

The NIHR DART Collaboration was established to ensure a step increase in the quality and quantity of research conducted across the country in diet, nutrition, physical activity and sedentary behaviours.

These  behaviours underpin all the major chronic long-term conditions challenging the NHS and the Collaboration was set up to create a collective voice within the academic and clinical community in partnership with industry, charities and other partners to tackle these challenges.

The NIHR DART Collaboration is developing:

• a common strategy for maximising the impact of diet, nutrition, physical activity and sedentary behaviour research across the country
• tools and resources that are fit-for-purpose for measurement of dietary and activity metrics
• training events for academics and health care professionals
• a network to enable working with industry, charities and other partners in sectors such as wearables and food industry
• addressing unmet research needs and developing a strategic approach to the grand challenges in this research area. For example, a life course approach to obesity including both therapeutic and public health preventative approaches.

 The Collaboration’s themes of excellence in Diet and Physical Activity include:

• Phenotyping/Genotyping
• Obesity/Appetite control
• Cardiometabolic disease
• Populations of Interest
• Gastrointestinal Health.

Diet, nutrition, and physical inactivity underpin all the major chronic long-term conditions challenging the NHS. By pooling our collective expertise and through stronger cross-sector and cross-disciplinary partnerships we can tackle the major nutrition and activity research challenges facing our society.”

Prof Melanie Davies, Chair of the DART Collaboration

The NIHR DART Collaboration members are leading researchers based in nine of the NIHR’s Biomedical Research Centres (BRC), chaired by Professor Melanie Davies from the NIHR Leicester BRC.

List of partner organisations

• NIHR Bristol Biomedical Research Centre
  Prof Andy Ness and Prof Julian Hamilton-Shield
• NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre
  Prof Nita Forouhi and Dr Soren Brage
• NIHR Guy's & St Thomas' Biomedical Research Centre
  Dr Louise Goff
• NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre
  Prof Gary Frost and Dr Ed Chambers
• NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Centre
  Prof Melanie Davies and Prof David Stensel
• NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre
  Dr Michelle Harvie
• NIHR Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre
  Prof Sian Robinson and Prof Emma Stevenson
• NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre
  Prof Susan Jebb
• NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre
  Prof Keith Godfrey and Professor Philip Calder
• NIHR UCLH Biomedical Research Centre
  Prof Rachel Batterham

To find out more about the NIHR DART Collaboration and how your company or organisation can partner with us, E-mail: nocri@nihr.ac.uk