Building local research capacity

Fuse has had considerable impact on public health research and policy over the last seven years, in the North East, nationally and internationally.

Central to progress and impact has been capacity building for public health research within the partner universities.  There have been eight academic appointments at lecturer, senior lecturer and reader level plus seven postgraduate research posts and 17 PhD studentships funded directly through the UKCRC initiative, aside from those created through research grants developed by Fuse staff.

Careers in public health

Fuse has enabled the start of a number of careers in public health research and built a strong Early Career Researcher (ECR) network, which we support with training, mentoring and other activities, both within host institutions and across Fuse.  A number of PhD students supported during the first five years have now secured permanent academic and research posts.

Dr Kathryn Taylor obtained her Fuse PhD in October 2014: The FFAB (Fun Fast Activity Blasts) project: The development, implementation and evaluation of a school and community-based high-intensity physical activity intervention for 13-15 year olds in the Tees Valley.  She has since secured a Senior Lecturer post at Teesside University and is developing a programme of work around intense physical activity and its use in public health settings and pre-operative clinical settings with international collaborators.

Dr Anna Christie obtained her Fuse PhD in January 2014: Are there intervention - generated inequalities in type 2 diabetes care? A systematic review and analysis of routine data. After some noteworthy placements in government using her analysis skills Dr Christie is now employed by Public Health England (PHE) as a Health Information Analyst.

Dr Dominika Kwasnicka graduated with her PhD in October 2015 in the Singapore graduation ceremonies after moving to Perth, Australia to take up a research fellow post at Curtain University.

Additional posts and capacity

Fuse has also leveraged funding for additional posts, including readers and chairs in public health research and additional PhD studentships across the partner universities. 

Additional capacity has enabled us to develop critical mass in key research areas across Fuse, such as knowledge exchange and behaviour change and that would have been unlikely through the efforts of individual institutions alone. 

Associate membership

Fuse currently has more than 200 associate members from across the region and further afield with an interest in public health research both from academia and policy and practice who share Fuse’s mission.  Our associate members benefit from collaboration and networking opportunities and bring service expertise and knowledge of policy making and enthusiasm for collaborative, multi-disciplinary working. Early career researchers are given the opportunity to strengthen professional development while practice colleagues are able to maintain and develop their research and academic skills. 

Photograph ‘Careers Key’ by GotCredit via Flickr.com, copyright © 2015: https://www.flickr.com/photos/gotcredit/33372380360 (CC BY 2.0)

Last modified: Wed, 24 Mar 2021 08:43:58 GMT