1. UK Prevention Research Partnership
Professor Dame Sally Macintyre
Chair, UKPRP Expert Review Group and
UKPRP Scientific Advisory Board
24 September 2019

2. Why prevention? Under investment in prevention research across the UK
The need to address the burden and costs of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the UK
Cost effectiveness of prevention
Common drivers of NCDs, therefore co-benefits of acting on those drivers
The need to develop realistic, actionable, sustainable approaches to NCD prevention
Recognising that research funders should work together to address problems beyond their individual remits

3. National Prevention Research Initiative (NPRI)
Four funding calls between 2005 and 2011
£34m supported 74 primary prevention research projects
Focused on alcohol, smoking, diet and physical activity
NPRI 2015 review identified a need to:
focus on population-level interventions
work on the cost-effectiveness of prevention strategies
solve problems rather than simply describing them
understand the mechanisms of action
improve health where need is disproportionate: mental health, low SES, minorities

4. Academy of Medical Sciences 2016 report
Report emphasised the importance of prevention research
Identified challenges and opportunities for research into preventing NCDs and reducing inequalities in health
Considered different environments which influence health and health behaviours
Identified limitations of current biomedical approaches to solving major prevention problems
Recognised that multi-disciplinarity and systems-levels approaches needed

5. The Partnership
UK charities, UKRI Councils and health and social care departments
Invest £55m over 6-7 years (through 2 funding calls)
Covers physical and mental health and wellbeing in the UK

6. Objectives
Produce robust new knowledge about actionable, cost effective and scalable ways to improve population health and reduce inequalities in health
Provide substantial long-term investment to bring together a wide range of disciplines and stakeholders to build multidisciplinary teams focused on the primary prevention of NCDs
Enable change within complex systems to prevent NCDs
Co-develop ideas and research programmes with end users
Capitalise on emerging technologies, big data etc.
Support methodological innovation
Promote coordination of prevention research across funders

7. Focus NCDs, not infectious disease
Upstream, population level, determinants
Primary prevention
Best ways of modifying common drivers for a number of NCDs
Solving problems rather than describing them
Improving the development and evaluation of preventive strategies
Understanding issues of transferability: context, settings, environments
Improved targeting
Cost effective, scalable and sustainable solutions
Reducing health inequalities
Studying existing as well as proposed new preventive strategies

8. Prevention research post-NPRI: focus on upstream health determinants

9. Upstream influences and complexity
Swinburn et al. (2011) The Lancet 378 (9793):

10. Inter-disciplinarity
Developing effective preventive strategies requires understanding complex systems and their inter-linkages
UKPRP believes this can best be achieved through interdisciplinary research
UKPRP keen to see genuinely multidisciplinary teams, if appropriate bringing in disciplines not typically engaged in disease prevention research
The Partnership is not prescriptive about what disciplines should be included
Disciplinary mix should be appropriate to the research question

11. Co-develop research programmes
Co-develop ideas, research questions, evidence and implementation of strategies to maximise impact
Users of evidence and those with experience of implementing interventions, e.g.
Local Authorities, Local Government Association
Government Departments / Agencies
Third sector, civil society groups – charities and professional groups
Practitioners
Communities
Industry
Co-development with users is essential and should be appropriate to the work

12. Methodological approaches
Funded groups can use and/or develop a diverse range of methods
Methods must be appropriate to the research questions
Systems thinking and systems science approaches particularly welcomed
Exploiting digital technologies, social media, or large-scale datasets

13. Knowledge brokering
Knowledge transfer and exchange will be an integral aspects of the UKPRP:
to enable the transfer of outputs into policy and practice
to foster the development of long-lasting relationships between researchers and users
Mechanisms must be appropriate to the topic

14. Call 1 – outcome (consortia)
Institution
Topic area
University of Bristol
Prof Matthew Hickman
Urban planning and development. Embedding the prevention of NCD risk factors and health inequalities in decision-making on planning.
Bradford Teaching Hospital NHS Trust
Prof John Wright
Improving the life chances of children in Bradford and Tower Hamlets (London) – focus on healthy places, healthy learning and healthy livelihoods.
University of Edinburgh
Prof Linda Bauld
Commercial determinants of health and health inequalities - focus on tobacco and alcohol and food high in fat, salt and sugar.
University of Sheffield
Prof Petra Meier
Systems-based economic evaluation methods and tools to provide a common basis for appraising the effectiveness and costs and benefits of policy measures on housing; mental wellbeing; inclusive economic growth; and adverse childhood experiences.

15. Call 1 – outcome (networks)
Institution
Topic area
Queen's University Belfast
Prof Jayne Woodside
The food system across preschool, primary and secondary school settings, and school food provisions to influence the quality of children’s diets and reduce inequalities in dietary intake.
University of Glasgow
Ruth Dundas
Aims to lay the groundwork to develop research programmes to exploit linked, population-level administrative data to evaluate the impact of policies and determinants of maternal and child health across the four UK nations.
Prof Laurence Moore
The application and use of agent-based models among researchers and decision makers in order develop insights on the interdependent and interacting processes that result in NCDs and health inequalities.
University of Chester
Prof Paul Kingston
Explore the relationships between trade and investment agreements and NCDs by focussing mainly on tobacco, alcohol and ultra-processed foods.

16. Call 2 – Scope; Particular priorities
Aim to have a balanced portfolio complementing Call 1 funding
Preventing poor mental health and promoting mental wellbeing
Reducing health inequalities as a primary focus
Using fiscal and economic strategies to prevent NCDs and reduce health inequalities
Modifying other social and economic determinants of health and wellbeing
Tackling food systems that perpetuate unhealthy diets and obesity
Improving the urban environment, including transport systems and air quality
Using green and blue spaces for improving population health and preventing NCDs
Targeting specific life course stages or transitions

17. What we’re looking for / “What good looks like”
Dealing with important (high burden/prevalence) NCDs
Dealing with important drivers of those NCDs
Realistic, ambitious, original, good value, excellent research
Providing concrete and explicit accounts of:
What activities will be conducted if funded
What is already known about the specific topic, and what these activities will add
The mechanisms by which these activities are likely to effect change in drivers of NCDs
The appropriateness of the proposed:
membership of consortia/networks
networking strategies
methods
disciplines
user partnerships
knowledge brokering plans

18. In summary, the UKPRP will:
fund research into the primary prevention of physical and mental NCDs
generate useful new knowledge about how to prevent NCDs
encourage an upstream, and whole systems, approach to prevention
provide substantial long-term investment to develop and build on basic research in a number of relevant disciplines
build ambitious new multidisciplinary teams and researcher networks
engage with stakeholders at every stage to produce clear answers relevant to decision makers
capitalise on emerging digital technologies, ‘big data’ and basic science