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Coventry City Council has been awarded a £5 million boost to tackle inequalities and improve health outcomes across Coventry through research.

The funding is awarded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) to create a pioneering Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC) in the city. The HDRC will support the development of a culture of research excellence within the council.

The HDRC is part of a wider £50 million investment from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) for a series of local government partnerships across the country, boosting local authorities’ capacity and capability to conduct high-quality research to tackle health inequalities.

Coventry has a track record of working in partnership on health inequalities and the wider determinants of health through its Marmot partnership. Our ground breaking HDRC will build on this in partnership with Coventry University, the University of Warwick, University College London, and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire as well as a wide range of partners within the community and voluntary sectors.

Coventry is one of 10 pioneering Health Determinants Research Collaborations (HDRCs) which will provide new research funding to embed a culture of evidence-based decision-making within local government. The HDRCs will help to stimulate economic growth, particularly in some of the most deprived areas of the country and contribute to the Government’s plans to take action for the longer-term resilience of the health and wealth of the country.

The new partnerships, spanning the length and breadth of the UK, follow a major drive for enabling research to address wider determinants of population health and health inequalities, explicitly responding to the needs of local underserved groups and areas. Examples include facilitating research to better understand and introduce interventions to help with childhood obesity, Covid recovery, mental health and drug use.

The awarded local authorities stretch from Plymouth in the South West, to Aberdeen in Scotland, including three London Boroughs and regions in the Midlands and North of England.

The announcement builds on NIHR work started before the COVID-19 pandemic to understand local authorities’ research and evidence challenges. It demonstrates the Government’s aim to stimulate economic growth in all parts of the country and identify local solutions that address the most difficult challenges across the health and care system.

3 year fixed term contract/secondment.

We are appointing to the Research Fellow in Evidence Synthesis

The main focus of your work will be to identify and appraise literature on the wider determinants of health, and to support research training and skills development for staff at Coventry City Council. You will receive mentorship from academics at the University of Warwick and Coventry University. Your main duties will be to:

• Designing and conducting rigorous systematic reviews and meta-analyses (including the stages of literature searching, data extraction, quality assessment, data synthesis, writing reports and dissemination).

• Identify new areas for research, develop new research approaches, apply innovative research methods and extend the research portfolio.

• Co-design and deliver training and skills materials to support Coventry City Council staff increase their knowledge and understanding of research

• You will be encouraged to undertake research within the infrastructure of the NIHR-funded Coventry Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC).

The funding for this project is for an initial 3-year period, however this is likely to be extended further, subject to funding.

This role is based in Coventry. The post holder will be expected to attend face to face meetings in Coventry when required.

We want you to have the passion, leadership and skills needed to drive this new and exciting initiative. You will be someone who has:

• Experience of undertaking high-quality quantitative/qualitative evidence synthesis.
• Skills for undertaking systematic reviews and evidence synthesis, quantitative/qualitative/mixed methods research, critical appraisal, and literature searching.
• Either a higher research degree (PhD) in a relevant subject or equivalent experience in a relevant field.

Candidates from under-represented groups are encouraged to apply for this role.

For an informal chat about the role please contact: [email protected]

For full details on the application process please read the attached document on our jobs page labelled 'Coventry City Council Application Process'

Interview date: TBC. Interviews will be held face to face at our offices in Coventry.

When applying for this role you will be asked to write a personal statement. Applications will be shortlisted against these points:

• Relevant job experience for this role
• Your experience of working in complex multi-agency environments
• Your knowledge and understanding of research capacity development, relevant research and data protection legislation/guidance
• Knowledge of consultation, engagement, and community development techniques

For full details on the application process please read the attached document on our jobs page labelled 'Coventry City Council Application Process'

Coventry has a proud, innovative and creative spirit that throughout its history has seen communities come together to tackle problems and bring about real social change.

We are cutting-edge, challenging, youthful, vibrant and diverse.

At Coventry we are committed to excellence in everything we do. With around 4800 staff from a range of different backgrounds, our aim is to recruit and develop talented people who will focus on our customers, take responsibility, work together and find better ways of doing things.

To deliver the best services to our residents, we need the best people working for us to make a difference to our communities.

If you join us, we will provide a fantastic rewards and benefits package - to find out more please visit https://www.coventry.gov.uk/council-vacancies

It’s great to know that you are interested in working with us at Coventry City Council. As a prospective employee, it is important that everyone who works for us is committed to our One Coventry values and shares our commitment to becoming a more diverse and inclusive organisation.

Our Values are: