Â鶹´«Ã½ Health Determinants Research Collaboration projects

Find out more about our current projects

The Â鶹´«Ã½ Health Determinants Research Collaboration team are progressing with funded capacity to support activity which will contribute towards embedding a research culture in Â鶹´«Ã½ City Council.
Whilst we work with council teams and community colleagues to develop priority areas our researchers are busy with Council teams to develop ideas, supporting evaluation questions, mentoring and training.
We have been delighted at the response and interest from many Council teams and are now working to determine the next group of project areas.
We have committed dedicated funding to seven projects, which includes researcher capacity, funding to second council staff, bring in academic subject matter expertise and associated costs. Please note some projects are still in development. For more information, please contact the linked researcher.
Underpinning our work is a requirement to create appetite, interest and capacity for evaluation and research within the council and for all partners. Everything we share and teach we hope to be cascaded to wider teams so that learning spreads. We are also looking at the same time for the opportunity to share learning, locally and nationally, and look for additional funding opportunities for both service development and research.
 

Project 1

Is Food All We Need? Prioritising Diverse Voices in Â鶹´«Ã½

This research focuses on food insecurity as a health determinants issue.
The aim of this project is to extend the ‘Is Food All We Need?’ research study that we have been working on since July 2022. The study looked at the impact of food-focused initiatives and services in Â鶹´«Ã½, such as food banks, food larders and food clubs, focusing on the perspectives of service users. This second phase will support the establishment of food co-ops and social supermarkets in the city, with the aim of improving access to affordable food, and removing barriers to food security.
We acknowledged that the voices of some communities of identity and potentially marginalised social groups have not been fully included so far in our research, for example BAME communities and refugee and asylum seekers, young people (16-24 years old), older people (over 60 years old), people with disabilities, people with mental health difficulties, and people from the LGBTQ+ community in Â鶹´«Ã½. We anticipate that people in these communities are likely to experience additional barriers to food security, and this contributes to health inequalities.
Group of volunteers organising food donations onto tables at a food bank in the North East of England. They are working together, setting up sections of the room in a church.
Working with; Â鶹´«Ã½ City Council, Â鶹´«Ã½, Food Â鶹´«Ã½ and Â鶹´«Ã½ Food Aid Network VCSE partners.
 

Project 2

An Exploration and Evaluation of Â鶹´«Ã½â€™s 'No Strings Attached' Smoking Cessation Project as a Complex Systems Intervention

This project will research and evaluate the Â鶹´«Ã½-based smoking cessation project: 'No Strings Attached. This project is aimed at people with complex needs, who typically do not access conventional smoking cessation services and don’t necessarily want to give up smoking. Like some other smoking cessation services the project involves offering smokers a free vaping kit in the hope that they will make the transition from smoking to vaping but it does not involve the commitment or expectations linked to conventional stop smoking support.
The evaluation will examine the extent to which both projects have led to reductions in smoking (beyond the 4- and 5-week follow-up points when monitoring data is already routinely collected). It will explore key factors behind a participant’s decision to change their smoking habits. It will also look at the wider impact and implications of the projects both on the service providers responsible for delivering it and on the service users in terms of their quality of life and experiences with other services.
 

Project 3

Sustainable Research Supported Environment – Policy and Information

The policy team are part of the Executive Office and responsible for interpreting government policy and steering how it will impact on council work and the people of Â鶹´«Ã½. They work with city-wide data and intelligence functions, and hold a number of statutory responsibility duties for the council. As well as implementing existing government policy they also horizon scan for possible emerging policy conduct local survey and consultation, and lobby government in relation to planned or suggested changes (e.g. .
Many different parts of the Council hold their own data and intelligence and the policy team often find themselves cascading and sourcing data and share information efficiently and effectively. Key data holders are public health, capacity and planning, performance, economic development as well as each directorate and service holding their own data: but all teams access and use city level data, often used and interpreted differently.
The HDRC is funding a secondment to work across the council to make better use of our data, ensuring we know what is available, where it is stored, how it is accessed and consider how it can be used to help inform priorities for the city. It will be the opportunity to test how data can be used to create a better picture of our strengths and needs by joining up knowledge looking for synergy, trends and greater granularity.
Businessman working data document graph chart report marketing research development planning management strategy analysis financial accounting. Business office concept.
Contact: Julian Elston julian.elston@plymouth.gov.uk
Working with; Â鶹´«Ã½ City Council Policy team and informatics colleagues across the council, Â鶹´«Ã½