Health Determinants Research Collaboration

Helping Coventry City Council improve the health of the city's residents

Coventry City Council is one of thirty local authorities across the UK awarded £5m funding by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) to establish the Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC).

This initiative looks at factors that can impact a person’s health, such as income, education, job insecurity, working conditions and housing. These are called ‘health determinants’ and are key contributors to health inequalities and the length and quality of a person's life.

The Coventry HDRC is a collaboration between Coventry City Council, Coventry University, the University of Warwick, University College London, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, and the Coventry Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Sector. The dedicated teams will both utilise and undertake research into the determinants of health to benefit the residents of the city of Coventry and beyond.

Over the next five years, Coventry City Council will engage and immerse itself in high-quality research into the determinants of health. As council staff become more research-active through participation in the HDRC, the overall understanding of the complex factors shaping health outcomes will be enhanced.

By building a sustainable research infrastructure and working with the people of Coventry to identify their needs and priorities, the HDRC aims to stimulate, support and create research that provides evidence-based solutions to the factors impacting health. This approach will establish innovative strategies for tackling health inequalities and improving the health of Coventry residents.

More information about specific research projects can be found on the HDRC website.

Research collaboration aims to improve the health of Coventry residents

Coventry University will play a key role in helping Coventry City Council improve the health of its residents through a five-year research collaboration.

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Our Role

Coventry University is leading the skills and training pillar for the Coventry HDRC.

Our researchers are currently signposting as well as organising a series of webinars and sessions to equip local residents, voluntary sector members and council personnel with the necessary skills to better identify and understand issues where research is needed, and to evaluate local services, so more informed decisions can be made about what works best.

Coventry University, in collaboration with Coventry City Council, has united individuals from voluntary and community organisations across the city to enhance the University’s longstanding ‘community researchers’ and ‘co-creating wellbeing’ courses.

The courses will commence later this year, providing the voluntary sector and the general public with the skills and knowledge to conduct impactful research within the local community.

The HDRC aims to enhance our comprehension of how various factors influence our lives and health, such as the environments we inhabit, our housing situations, employment, education, and early life experiences.