The NIHR School for Public Health Research held its eighth Annual Scientific Meeting on the 23rd and 24th June 2022. The event was held virtually and brought together over 200 delegates including researchers, public partners, public health professionals and the wider NIHR.
The event aimed to reflect on the successes of the School to date as part of its 10-year anniversary but also look ahead to the next five years and how we can work together to make a difference, particularly in the context of issues that have emerged during and after the COVID-19 pandemic such as health inequalities and the cost-of-living crisis.
Professor Ashley Adamson, Director NIHR School for Public Health Research said:
“We are really pleased with our ASM 2022 which was well attended in an online format and packed full of content with opportunities to interact and collaborate in the platform’s Expo area.
We are now looking ahead to ASM 2023 and looking at what format this meeting will take so delegates can get the most value out of it. We would welcome any thoughts on whether this meeting should take place online, in a hybrid format or in-person, the survey can be completed here”
Keynote speakers
At ASM 2022 we heard from several keynote speakers including Professor Sir Chris Whitty, Dr Jeanelle de Gruchy and Professor Lucy Chappell. This was an important opportunity to reflect on learning from the pandemic and focus on priorities for the School for the next few years. During his talk, Professor Chris Whitty said:
“Coming out of the pandemic has had some huge wins for research in public health, and some quite serious challenges. The wins have been a very clear demonstration to policy makers and the public that when things are based on solid research and evidence you get a much better outcome. The exposure to public health data has opened people’s eyes to its extraordinary power.
It also highlighted some serious issues. The first and most important being inequalities and disparities around the UK, that all of us knew were there but had been under appreciated”
Research programmes 2022–27
Delegates heard talks from the leads of our four research programmes looking ahead to the next five years of the School. This featured talks from academic colleagues and viewpoints from public and practice stakeholders about their priorities for public health research. Watch videos from this session
Public involvement
During the public involvement and engagement session, we heard from members of our public partners network about why they got involved in SPHR and how they would like to see the network progress.
“I got involved because I realised to influence change and make a positive contribution as a public member is to be part of forums, working groups, advisory groups, any kind of place or platform where I can be a voice to those we see less around the table” Hameed Khan
“I got involved in SPHR because it’s important for members of the public to not just engage in public health research but also to be part of co-designing research studies to help ensure their design is representative of the intended community or patient group” Nuzhat Shakaib
Watch the talks from our Public Partners Network
Trainee showcase
As part of our academic research capacity building, ASM heard from summer interns, PhD students, fellows and ResNet awardees about their research and experiences at SPHR. Further presentations and a chance to talk to students was also available in the conference expo area. Watch talks from our trainees
Watch recordings from the conference by clicking on the playlists below
Research programme forward look 2022–2027
Full two days (use the time stamps in the video descriptions to navigate between sections)
Children, young people and families
Click on the links below for further content from ASM 2022:
ASM 2022 trainees
SPHR 1 Public Health and Practice Evaluation Scheme
SPHR 2 Public Health and Practice Evaluation Scheme
SPHR 2 Health inequalities
SPHR1 Showcase
SPHR 2 Showcase
SPHR 2 Efficient and equitable public health systems
Contributions to SPHR from our Public Partners Network
SPHR 2 Changing behaviour at population level