Local government public health teams across the UK will get rapid, rigorous evaluations of their own interventions—from cycle lane designs to school meal programmes—through a new research partnership called PHIRST Insight. This matters because local authorities spend millions on public health initiatives but often lack the resources or expertise to test whether they actually work. Without robust evaluation, effective programmes can be scrapped and ineffective ones continued, widening health inequalities. PHIRST Insight fills this gap by embedding university researchers directly into local government teams, using a co-production model where policymakers, practitioners, and community members shape every stage of the research. Over five years, the team will deliver ten studies, each lasting 12 to 24 months. If successful, the findings will refine how interventions are implemented, inform local and national policy guidance, and influence funding decisions. The partnership also builds lasting research capacity within local government—leaving behind teams better equipped to evaluate their own work long after the studies end. Public partners will co-author papers and collect data as peer researchers, ensuring the research reflects real community needs.
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Aims of PHIRST Insight PHIRST Insight is a collaboration between the Centre for Public Health at the University of Bristol and the Centre for Development, Evaluation, Complexity and Implementation in Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer) at Cardiff University. We seek to provide research and evaluation support to local government organisations to rapidly and robustly evaluate local public health interventions. We aim to build the evidence base and inform policy and practice, thereby reducing health inequalities and improving population health. Approach to be taken We have a track record of producing high quality research across a wide range of public health topics and methodologies. We can secure expertise from wider research groups in our institutions who have agreed to support PHIRST studies if needed. Our approach has three core principles: 1) co-production; 2) public involvement; and 3) maximising impact. Co-production recognises the expertise of local policy makers, practitioners and public partners and is integrated throughout our work. Public involvement is embedded in our advisory board, management group, individual study teams and in the production and dissemination of outputs. To maximise impact, we will work with local partners to co-produce dissemination plans that will maximise knowledge mobilisation, leave a legacy for local government and add to the public health evidence base. Timelines for delivery We will work flexibly to deliver 10 studies across a five year period. We envisage that studies will be between 12 and 24 months. Public and Community Involvement, Engagement and Participation (PCIEP) We have a PCIEP Manager (Pugh) in our core team. We have public partners as co-applicants on our management group and two public partners on our Steering Committee. Our pool of public advisors will join individual study teams to develop a detailed PCIEP plan, ensuring we recruit public partners from local areas to co-produce our work. In our previous PHIRST studies, local public partners have been successfully embedded in study management teams and have developed study protocols, advised on data collection tools, collected data as peer researchers and co-authored outputs and we will build on this approach. Engagement with policy and practice communities We have strong links with local government public health teams, and have a public health consultant in our management group. Jago leads the Public Health theme in ARC West with the Director of Public Health for South Gloucestershire. We also have strategic links with Public Health Wales and Welsh Local Government Association. We have a track record of working with local authority planning, transport, children’s services, education and regeneration teams, who are key to PHIRST studies. Anticipated impact and dissemination We will co-produce impact and dissemination plans at the outset of studies. Impact from our 10 PHIRST studies includes refining to intervention implementation; informing local and national policy and practice guidance; influencing local funding decisions, and building research capacity amongst our local partners. We have produced high quality peer-reviewed papers and have a track record of dissemination at high profile events for both policy makers and practitioners. We will do this again in a refunded PHIRST Insight.
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