Cumberland Council Health Determinants Research Collaboration: a New Council Centred on Health and Research

Background: Cumberland Council took up its powers as a unitary authority on 1st April 2023. This provides a unique opportunity to establish new, visionary ways of working that are ambitious experimental and innovative. The new Council Plan takes a bold approach by placing people and their health and wellbeing at the heart of everything we do.

Cumberland is a county of dispersed communities due to its large coastal and rural geography. Low population density and economies of scale make the provision of equitable services challenging, resulting in poor connectedness to key services and civic assets, which is exacerbated by digital poverty, transport poverty, poor transport infrastructure and centralisation/withdrawal of statutory services.

Current research activity in Cumberland is limited by lack of resources, capacity, and infrastructure, we are a County with one, relatively new University, surrounded by densely populated cities with red brick institutes who focus their research on densely populated cities with large teaching hospitals. Despite this there is a real passion and appetite for research, Cumbria University has a multidisciplinary Centre for Research in Health and Society and is establishing a new medical school in partnership with Imperial College London.

Vision: Cumberland will drive culture change through embedding research and evidence-based practice at the heart of everything we do, informing future policies to improve the health and wellbeing of our residents. We will champion transdisciplinary approaches to health determinants research, bringing together officers from across council structures, members of our communities, councillors, and academics from a range of disciplines to tackle real-world problems in Cumberland.

Key deliverables and Milestones: For all HDRC staff to be in post, build and strengthen research knowledge and skills across the council and communities, strengthen collaborative partnerships with HEI’s, facilitate a network of practice with other local authorities and to build a sustainable research infrastructure within Cumberland. Milestones will be monitored annually.

Collaborations/Partnerships: To form a strong and lasting collaborative partnership with University of Cumbria, University of Central Lancashire, Cumbria CVS and work closely with our Voluntary community Sector organisations and community co-researchers to identify research priorities.

Impact: Increase in research capacity and capability in Cumberland Council and its research partners, increase in research evidence to support interventions to improve public health in dispersed communities, reduce health inequalities in Cumberland’s areas of high socioeconomic deprivation, greater community engagement and sense of community in traditionally ‘hard to reach’ areas, increase in staff skills and educational attainment. Dissemination: Co-produced dissemination strategy by end of year 1.

To build on the wider networks for dissemination such as Fuse, NIHR ARC LCRN and VCS and to host an annual event for public and practice. Build trust with our communities. Develop research funding applications and outputs such as research publications.