Imperial College London has joined a partnership of leading academic centres that demonstrate excellence in applied public health research.

The partnership, called the NIHR School for Public Health Research (SPHR), aims to build the evidence base for effective public health practice including what works practically to improve population health and reduce health inequalities; and generate knowledge that can be applied across the country to better meet the needs of policymakers, practitioners and the public.

Key collaborators include public health departments in local authorities as well as national organisations such as Public Health England.

Imperial joins a number of other top research institutions in the partnership – including the Universities of Bristol, Cambridge, and Sheffield – with £20.5 million in funding available to the group over the next five years.

Imperial’s membership was announced by the NIHR this week, with Professor Ashley Adamson from Newcastle University appointed as director for the SPHR until March 2022.

The School of Public Health at Imperial College brings extensive experience of using large existing datasets to evaluate policy in the areas of transport and health, childhood obesity, tobacco control and local health interventions.

“We are delighted to be joining the NIHR School of Public Health Research,” said Professor Christopher Millett from the School of Public Health at Imperial, who is the College’s Principal Investigator for the award.

“The award will allow us to substantially strengthen applied public health research at Imperial, drawing on key strengths across different faculties and departments.”

Co-investigators at Imperial will include Dr Anna Hansell, Professor Azeem Majeed, Dr Sonia Saxena and Professor Helen Ward, all of whom are from Imperial’s School of Public Health.