ARC West’s funding ended on 31 March 2026. This site is an archive and is no longer updated.
29 March 2021
More than 200 people gathered via Zoom on 15 March to hear National Institute for Health and Care Research Applied Research Collaboration West (NIHR ARC West) researchers, theme leads and collaborators, along with other senior leaders, present at the ARC West showcase.
The researchers presented a range of studies including monitoring COVID-19 in schools, therapies for young people who had experienced trauma and what causes delays in discharging patients with frailty from hospital. The day was kicked off by a presentation from Dr Louise Wood, Director of Science, Research and Evidence at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NIHR.
The attendees included researchers, public contributors, NHS, public health and voluntary sector professionals. Delegates were mainly from the West of England patch covered by ARC West.
Professor Mark Pietroni, Director for Safety and Medical Director – Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Chair of ARC West, said:
“As Chair of both ARC West and its predecessor CLAHRC West, I have been privileged to be involved in its growth and development over the last seven years. Despite being one of the younger ARCs – this is our second round of funding – we have achieved great things and this event was a chance to showcase our next phase of research projects.”
Professor John Macleod, Director of NIHR ARC West, said:
“It was really heartening to have such a positive response to our showcase. Despite my slight misgivings about holding it on a Monday morning, we managed to pull off a very successful event. Thanks to everyone who presented and was involved in organising it.”
Watch all the presentations in our YouTube event playlist.
Dr Louise Wood, Director of Science, Research and Evidence, Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the NIHR, discusses the role of Applied Research Collaborations (ARCs) in delivering NIHR’s strategy.
Download Louise’s presentation
Professor John Macleod is the Director of NIHR ARC West. Here he presents about ARC West’s future research plans, and how they were developed.
Theme Leads Professor Russ Jago, University of Bristol and Sara Blackmore, South Gloucestershire Director of Public Health, give an overview of the public health and prevention theme. This is followed by a presentation from Dr Jeremy Horwood, NIHR ARC West, on COVID-19 and schools – the Back to School and CoMMInS projects.
Download Russ and Sara’s presentation Download Jeremy’s presentation
Theme Lead Professor Chris Salisbury, University of Bristol, gives an overview of the integrated and optimal care theme. This is followed by a presentation from Dr Heather Brant, NIHR ARC West, Dr Kyra Neubauer and Sarah Biggs on ‘Delays in discharge from hospital of older people living with frailty: What are the hidden challenges?’
Download Chris’s presentation Download Heather, Sarah and Kyra’s presentation
Theme Lead Professor Paul Moran, University of Bristol gives an overview of the mental health theme. This is followed by his presentation on the NHS CHECK study, which focuses on the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of NHS staff.
Theme Lead Professor Esther Crawley, University of Bristol gives an overview of the healthier childhoods theme. This is followed by a presentation from Rachel Hiller, University of Bath on trauma-related mental health of young people in care.
Download Rachel’s presentation
The majority (96 per cent) of respondents to the feedback form said they would recommend the event to a colleague. Satisfaction with the day’s content, structure and platform were all high. Some comments included:
“All aspects well-presented and very informative. Good interaction on Q/As and links supplied very useful. Thank you”
“Good to hear the voice of a PPI contributor, and hear about how this input impacted on research.”
“I really enjoyed this event. The format felt like a fast and informative whistlestop tour; really interesting. Well done and thank you all”
“Such a positive enthusiastic group of researchers – so heartening to watch and so proud of the West!”
“An excellent morning thank you. I felt the session on delays in discharge and the animation on Information About Me was absolutely amazing. Look forward to the next one”
“A brilliant event, well structured, lead and implemented. I learnt a lot and found it a great use of time. Thank you to all involved!”