Associated organisations of the MHA
Midlands Engine
The Midlands Engine is a coalition of Councils, Combined Authorities, Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP), Universities and businesses across the region, actively working with Government to build a collective identity, to enable us to present the Midlands as a competitive and compelling offer that is attractive at home and overseas.
Our partnership is about additionality, complementing the work of our partners to generate added value, at scale – right across the Midlands.
Home to over 10 million people and 800,000 large and small businesses, the Midlands has huge potential and the Partnership is focused on its global success – and this in turn will deliver an enhanced quality of life for our citizens and communities.
Our Vision for Growth sets out our five priority areas of focus to ensure the Midlands drives the UK economy:
Connecting the Midlands through maximising new technologies to deliver a radical transformation of the Midlands transport network
Tackling the mismatch between business skills needs and the skill levels of Midlands residents
Growing International Trade and Investment in existing and new markets
Increasing Innovation and Enterprise, creating an environment where our science and innovation strengths can be maximised
And, Shaping Great Places by promoting the Midlands as a great place to live, visit, learn and work.
Midlands Engine Health
Championing and amplifying our region’s world-leading strengths in health, medical technologies and life sciences
In recognition of the fundamental connection between health and economy, the Midlands Engine partnership has worked closely with industry, academic, health sector and public sector partners to establish Midlands Engine Heath.
This collaboration will be crucial as we seek to champion and expand the world-leading capabilities we have, right here in the Midlands, in health, medical technologies and life sciences.
Midlands Engine Health will underpin and expand on the extensive work already achieved by these partners, enabling close collaboration to showcase our regional strengths, such as being host to the UK’s largest cluster of MedTech companies and delivers world-leading, life-changing clinical research that is improving outcomes for patients.
With proven excellence in delivery, the Midlands hosts world-class health research infrastructure in numerous disease areas.
We will actively work to identify and capitalise on new opportunities, attract international investment and accelerate sector-wide growth. We will also seek to address clinical and social care needs within the Midlands, with a reflection on how Covid-19 has impacted our people, places and economy.
Together we will maintain a powerful spotlight on the phenomenal capabilities and facilities our region has to offer in this field, ensuring that we maximise the benefits of innovation for our regional economy and society in general.
Midlands Innovation health
Midlands Innovation Health is a research and innovation partnership that coordinates and combines the collective excellence of 7 Midlands universities to deliver improved health and regional growth. Driving disruptive translational interventions and influencing nationally, MHI draws together a critical mass of innovative regional stakeholders to impact national and global health challenges using local training strengths, expertise, networks, best practice and facilities.
As the Health and Medicine branch of Midlands Innovation, we are united in our determination that:
Individually we are strong, with world-class research, creativity and skills development.
Together we are stronger, playing a significant role in stimulating economic growth across the region and beyond.
As a collaborative translational engine for healthcare, Midlands Innovation Health represents:
A critical mass of regional research and innovation activity
A platform for delivering disruptive interventions
A ‘Team Science’ community of good practice, technical expertise and peer support
An ability to rapidly coordinate potential synergies and delivery of joint innovation
A partnership forum promoting Midlands innovation in research, policy and practice
A Joint Strategy
The aim of this initiative is to position the cutting-edge Medical and Health-based innovations and research produced across the Midlands at the forefront of the UK. We are also striving to create more large-scale collaborative activities across the partnership and with others.
This will be achieved by delivering against the following objectives:
To provide co-ordination for the generation of research intensive applications and initiatives which link MHI Universities. These will often involve linking with industry, the NHS and/or local government
To facilitate sharing of resources between MHI Universities, with the aim of furthering collaboration and expanding capabilities
To increasing research and collaboration with Midlands NHS Trusts to co-ordinate patient-based research facilities across the Midlands
To respond as a united voice to consultations and funding opportunities which are targeted at the Midlands region as a whole
Delivering Impact
SCALE IN RESEARCH
High quality translational research and clinical trials infrastructure, hosting multiple national centres of research excellence, 3 BRCs and 4 CRFs. >£260M health research p.a.
SCALE IN HEALTHCARE
50 NHS Trusts, supporting a population of ~11million (1/6 UK) and 27% of the country’s NHS Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships.
SCALE IN SKILLS
Our Medical Schools train 20% of the UK’s medical professionals, within a region where 38% are employed within highly skilled, knowledge intensive sectors.
SCALE IN INDUSTRY
MHI partners deliver >£130M of Business and Community engagement p.a. The Midlands region is also in the UK’s top 3 for Life Sciences employment (>30,000 jobs).
Health Data Research UK Midlands
Health Data Research UK is uniting the UK’s health data to enable discoveries that improve people’s lives.
Our vision is that every health and care interaction and research endeavour will be enhanced by access to large scale data and advanced analytics.
Why does this matter?
By making health data available to researchers and innovators we can better understand diseases and discover ways to prevent, treat and cure them.
Challenges to human health and health system sustainability are increasing globally. Heart disease, stroke and cancer still account for nearly two thirds of all deaths globally. These diseases affect us deeply – they change the lives of those with the diseases and those who care for them. By making health data available to researchers, we can develop a better understanding of these diseases and ways to prevent, treat and cure them.
Why is the UK the best place to do this?
The UK has some of the richest health data of anywhere in the world. With the NHS it is feasible to collect health data on a large and diverse population, and to make national-scale improvements to health and care. Combined with unique research expertise, outstanding talent in the NHS and universities, and a vibrant life sciences industry, the UK has an unprecedented opportunity to use data at scale to drive innovation, grow the UK industry base and improve the long-term health of the public.
How are we doing it?
We are uniting health data assets across the UK to make health data research and innovation happen at scale. We work with people who share a common set of values:
1. We are transparent: we will share information, insights and innovations so that we learn faster together.
2. We are optimistic: we believe that we can make things better, that we can do things differently and that we can overcome challenges to create a new and thriving health data ecosystem that benefits patients and the public, the NHS, scientific discovery and industry.
3. We are respectful: we deliver better results when we work in a truly interdisciplinary way. We listen, share and respect a diversity of thought and opinion, perspective and experience. We are inclusive – leveraging and fairly attributing the expertise and capabilities of others, including patients, carers and members of the public.
4. We act with courage: we are leading the way and will be prepared to try new things, take risks, embrace ambiguity and challenge the status quo. We will contribute opinions to shape the future of health data research.
5. We act with humility: we have a lot to learn from others; and aim to be open-minded about the gaps in our knowledge. We work diligently to find partners who can help fill those gaps and value and respect their contribution.
Director
Professor Simon Ball, Director of Digital Healthcare, University Hospital Birmingham
Associate Directors
· Professor Theodoros Arvanitis Professor of e-health innovation and Head of Research at the Institute of Digital Healthcare, Warwick Manufacturing Group, University of Warwick
· Professor Anthony Brookes, Professor of Bioinformatics & Genomics, Department of Genetics & Genome Biology University of Leicester
· Professor Georgios Gkoutos, Professor of Clinical Bioinformatics, College of Medical & Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham
· Dr Phil Quinlan, Director, UKCRC Tissue Directory and Coordination Centre, Department of Computer Science University of Nottingham
Partners
· University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
Research initiatives
· Representing, integrating and analysing patient level healthcare data for discovery and personalised care
Principal Investigator: Professor Georgios Gkoutos
· Making diverse healthcare and biobank data discoverable
Principal Investigator: Professor Anthony Brookes
· Connecting the environmental with the individual to improve health of populations
Principal Investigator: Professor Matt Keeling
Clinical Trials Units
The Midlands is host to 7 Clinical Trials Unit including UKs largest. Clinical Trials Units (CTUs) are specialist units which have been set up with a specific remit to design, conduct, analyse and publish clinical trials and other well-designed studies. They have the capability to provide specialist expert statistical, epidemiological and other methodological advice and coordination to undertake successful clinical trials. In additon, most CTUs will have expertise in the coordination of trials involving investigational medicinal products which must be conducted in compliance with the UK Regulations governing the conduct of clinical trials resulting from the EU Directive for Clinical Trials.
NIHR Health Informatics Collaborative
The NIHR HIC is a collaboration between NHS trusts, each of which has a strong relationship with a partner university. These relationships have been strengthened and supported by the NIHR, in particular through the establishment of NIHR Biomedical Research Centres (BRCs) within each trust. It is the BRCs that provide the focal points for the NIHR HIC, bringing together clinical, scientific, and informatics expertise at each trust to improve the quality and availability of patient information.
The aims of the NIHR HIC are to:
· support the establishment and maintenance of catalogued, comparable, comprehensive flows of patient data at each trust:
o catalogued, in that the context of collection, the intended interpretation, or the provenance of the data is properly recorded and understood.
o comparable, in that unnecessary differences in the way in which data is recorded, processed, and represented are reduced or eliminated.
o comprehensive, in that the flows contain all of the core information needed for high quality care, service evaluation, and translational research.
· to create a governance framework for data sharing and re-use across the trusts and partner organisations, including:
o a data sharing agreement, allowing for the transfer of deidentified and/or identified information between trusts.
o a publication policy, ensuring that contributors across the collaborative receive appropriate credit.
o a shared approach to research collaboration and intellectual property, streamlining the process of data re-use for scientific progress and patient benefit.
An additional aim is to demonstrate this new capability – the data flows and the governance framework – through the delivery of a number of exemplar research studies, one in each of the established therapeutic areas.
NIHR school for Primary Care Research
Established in 2006, the NIHR School for Primary Care Research is a partnership between nine leading academic centres for primary care research in England (including Nottingham and Keele). The School brings together academics and practitioners from across the country to collaborate on cutting edge, topical primary care studies that have an impact both at policy level and in general practices around the country. In addition to conducting high profile research, we attract the best new researchers into our capacity programme and offer trainees support and networking opportunities through an extensive training and events programme. Our mission is to increase the evidence base for primary care practice, and to increase research capacity in primary care.