Hello, my name is Amber and I’m proud to work in the NIHR Research Delivery Network which invests in the UK’s health and care workforce and infrastructure, building up its capacity and expertise to deliver life-changing research across the nation.

The one thing that has remained constant is the value and importance of research to inform, refine and improve care and treatment options for people in our local communities and where research has clearly changed life courses for people in Yorkshire and Humber. Seeing the dynamic change this can have on people’s lives is what drives me to lead a dedicated team who all have a passion for better health for all.

I have worked in health and care research for over 15 years, during which time I have witnessed and adapted to a wealth of changes in the research landscape more broadly. The recent NHS 10 Year Plan and the Life Sciences Sector Plan require us to pivot to the three government ‘shifts’ - from sickness to prevention, from hospitals to community and from analogue to digital.

New priorities to deliver commercial studies more efficiently, such as the UK Clinical Research Delivery performance metrics, will require agility and focus, working together to enact UK wide improvements in research delivery.

I have the privilege of working with 22 NHS trusts in Yorkshire and Humber and an array of organisations in primary care and wider care settings that bring health and care research to the people in our region. Working in partnership is vital to our success, and as a leader in a large region with demanding health needs and diverse communities, strong and trusted relationships are key. Working across the system with our valued colleagues enables us to deliver the research needed to improve the health and wealth of our populations. In this, we have been hugely successful, bringing research opportunities to over a million people in Yorkshire and Humber over the last ten years, marking us as the most successful recruiting network in the country.

One example of how partnership drives dynamic innovation in our region involves FIND-AF. This is a University of Leeds-led study that showed an AI algorithm can use health records in primary care to identify patients at high risk of atrial fibrillation (AF) - an irregular heart rhythm often undiagnosed in routine care. The NIHR RDN supported the study through co-funding and recruitment, with almost 2,000 participants recruited at GP practices across West Yorkshire.

For me, our success comes from looking ahead. We already know the key drivers that need essential research to drive change: 0-19 mental health, cancer, stroke, heart disease and obesity, to name a few, and how can we use research to look ahead to ‘turbocharge’ change in the system to tackle these issues and improve people’s lives.

Thank you for reading. I know I have covered some large issues here and any comments, questions and feedback are welcome so please get in touch.

Most importantly, do help spread the word about our communities' access to research by sharing our Be Part of Research campaign with your colleagues and audiences.

NIHR Yorkshire and Humber Regional Research Delivery Network is part of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and funded by the Department for Health and Care.