The CPRU is a collaboration between UCL and the universities of Bristol, Oxford, Manchester, Newcastle, King’s College London, Bradford Institute for Health Research, Anna Freud Centre, and Institute of Fiscal Studies. The aim of the CPRU is to conduct high-quality research which enables policymakers and practitioners to make informed decisions which affect the nation’s health and wellbeing. The announcement builds on the work done by the CPRU over a decade, and further strengthens its commitment to support evidence based policy-making at a local and national level.

Under the co-directorship of Professor Ruth Gilbert, GOS Institute of Child Health, Institute of Education, and Dr Jenny Woodman, Institute of Education (IOE), Social Research Institute, and Thomas Coram Research Institute, the CPRU has worked to deliver groundbreaking research programmes into addressing health inequalities, supporting vulnerable children and families, and improving health outcomes for children with disabilities and long-term conditions. The CPRU works closely with children and families to put their experiences at the heart of research and ensure that they can inform and influence policy decisions.

Dr Jenny Woodman said: “With this important funding, we will be able to work with analysts and policy colleagues at the Department of Health and Social Care and other government departments to generate and present high quality evidence at the right time to support their decisions. We research what makes children healthier, taking into account the environments in which they live, the places they spend time, the health of their parents and carers and siblings and the health, education and other services they and their families use.”

The funding will enable a further five years of research on priority policy areas for child and family health for the Department of Health and Social Care, such as health inequalities, early years support for children and parents, support from health, education and social care for children and young people affected by chronic physical or mental health conditions, and services to address family violence.

The award is part of a package of funding for Policy Research Units across England & Wales announced by NIHR worth an estimated £100M.

This will be used to improve the accessibility of the Trust’s research so more patients and service users have the opportunity to take part in research. It will include a new sleep laboratory, equipment for the Informatics theme of the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre and resources for the new Pears Maudsley Centre for Children and Young People.

New sleep laboratory at the NIHR King’s Clinical Research Facility (CRF)

This investment will allow the creation of a sleep laboratory to study the impact of disturbed sleep on brain functioning and mental health. This will be based in the NIHR King’s Clinical Research Facility and the funding will refurbish existing space for private rooms and purchase new equipment designed for sleep studies. When not used for sleep research, these new facilities will be available as generic clinical space for experimental medicine, thus increasing our capacity for studies across the CRF’s portfolio.

The sleep laboratory will be a leader in this field, building on existing strengths in the development of both silent and motion insensitive MRI, relationships with industry and the UK’s largest clinical sleep service that spans across King’s Health Partners

Pears Maudsley Centre for Children and Young People

The equipment and facilities of the Pears Maudsley Centre for Children and Young People will revolutionize the type and scope of research undertaken, enhancing our understanding of the relationship between brain-based mechanisms, clinical disorders, and social context.

This funding will pay for an MRI compatible EEG system for imaging infants to be used in perinatal services and additional eye tracking equipment that is specifically helpful for younger children who find it difficult to sit still during data capture.

The equipment will enable researchers to explore the interplay between brain and social/environmental risk factors such as trauma exposure, poverty, parental mental illness with an aim to investigate potential prevention targets.

NIHR Maudsley BRC Informatics

The funding will provide dedicated BRC storage and high-performance computing facilities to enable the informatics team to process large datasets. This hardware will enhance research capacity and capability, supporting the development of large language models and increasing the speed of testing of deep learning models. It will also support the creation of a  Mobile Health and Speech Lab which  include a collection of devices and speech equipment to ensure a standardised process for testing, benchmarking, piloting, and evaluating existing and emerging devices for data collection.

Read the full press release