Welcome to PHIRN

The aim of PHIRN is to increase the quantity and quality of public health improvement research that is relevant to policy and practice.

We aim to achieve this by increasing the number of natural experiments within the roll-out of new initiatives; developing high quality collaborative research proposals for research grant funding; developing high quality collaborative research proposals linked to emerging initiatives; and developing a critical mass of specialised methodological capacity in the design and conduct of community based trials of complex interventions.

Supported by: Cardiff University, Welsh Government and National Institute of Social Care and Health Research.

NICE: Behaviour change: draft guidance consultation

Notice of stakeholder workshops on Behaviour Change draft guidance
In 2013 NICE are scheduled to publish a partial update of Public Health guidance 6 ‘Behaviour Change’. We are in the process of producing draft guidance on ‘Behaviour Change’. As part of the process of guidance development, NICE encourage all registered stakeholders to formally submit their written comments via the website in the usual way between 5th June and 31st July 2013.

In light of the large scale changes to the public health system and inauguration of major national organisations who will have a stake in this guidance, the Programme Development Group and NICE feel that face to face consultation with stakeholders is crucial; and should include representatives of these organisations as well as health and social care professionals, local authority and NHS managers and commissioners, third and private sector representatives. To this end, NICE is undertaking two stakeholder workshops.

We have commissioned GK Research (an independent research organisation) to facilitate these workshops, with a sample of the target audience for the draft guidance, to test the usefulness, relevance and feasibility of the recommendations before they are finalised. These workshops will act as the fieldwork for this guidance (for further details about fieldwork, see appendix M of the public health methods manual, 2012).

NICE would like to invite stakeholders to ‘have your say’ on the draft guidance in terms of its relevance and likely impact. We would therefore like to know who would be the ‘right person to attend from your organisation who would have a particular remit around the topic of behaviour change?’

The workshops will be held on the afternoons of 26th July 2013 in London, and 29th July 2013 in Manchester, (please note: we have limited spaces available).
Please get in touch if you have any questions about the NICE guidance development process. If you are able to provide details (see below) of an individual from your organisation who is most relevant to this guidance, please reply to rachel.kettle@nice.org.uk.

For more information regarding the consultation vice the NICE website.

New funding opportunities with the NIHR HTA Programme

Researcher-led call for proposals

Deadline: Monday 2nd September 2013, 1pm

Our researcher-led calls are open all year round, with three application cut-off dates. The next closing date for applications is 1pm on Monday 2 September 2013. Application forms and all associated documents for this call are available on the HTA Programme website here.

Proposals deemed within remit for the current call will be assessed for their importance to the NHS in November 2013 and January 2014. Applicants will be advised as to whether they have been short-listed by the beginning of February 2014.

Please tell others about us
We would be grateful if you could forward this email on to colleagues who may be interested in this funding opportunity, and where possible post this email on relevant websites and forums.

For any further enquiries, please contact the HTA Clinical Evaluation and Trials team: 023 8059 6974 or htacet@southampton.ac.uk

Welsh Public Health Conference 2013: Call for Abstracts

For the first time, the Welsh Public Health Conference is putting out a call for abstracts for breakout sessions at the conference on 10th and 11th October 2013.

Expressions of interest in presenting at the conference should be addressed to publichealth.conference@wales.nhs.uk and including the following information:

Name, job title, name of organisation
Title of project
Which session the proposed presentation could come under (see above)
One or two paragraphs summarising your proposed presentation.

All applications must be received by Friday 21 June 2013.

Exercise Medicine Symposium

Date: Saturday 15th June 2013
Venue: Michael Griffiths Education Centre, University Hospital of Wales (UHW), Heath Park, Cardiff, CF14 4XN

Cardiff Sports and Exercise Medicine Society (CSEMS) is hosting an Exercise Medicine Symposium.
The symposium will display the exciting & controversial work going on here in the UK in the Exercise Medicine field, and we are very pleased to welcome our keynote speaker Professor Steven Blair from the USA. Some of the sessions that will take place on the day include:

-          Physical Inactivity or Obesity: Which Is the Bigger Health Problem? Professor Steven Blair
-          Born To Run and Sweat. An Evolutionary Medical Perspective. Dr Yannis Pitsiladis
-          Is Exercise Medicine? Professor Jamie Timmons

For the price of only £10 per delegate, and with many eminent speakers confirmed, this symposium aims to educate and inspire us all. The evidence behind exercise as medicine is substantial and it can no longer be ignored. Prof. Blair (2009) named physical inactivity the “Biggest public health issue of the 21^st Century” after discovering that physical inactivity was killing more Americans than smoking, diabetes and obesity combined.

To discover more about how & why we should push the exercise “polypill” - book your place at Cardiff Exercise Medicine Symposium by visiting: http://groups.cardiffstudents.com/sems/exercise-medicine-symposium/.

CSEMS Event Poster

Welsh Public Health Conference 2013

Healthy, Happy, Fairer Communities: Welsh Public Health Conference 2013

Date: Thursday 10th and Friday 11th October
Venue: Wales Millennium Centre, Bute Place, Cardiff Bay, CF10 5AL

The conference, titled ‘Healthier, Happier and Fairer Communities’, is the third Public Health Conference to be held in Wales. Jointly organised by Public Health Wales and the Welsh Government, the 2012 and 2011 conferences attracted policy makers, leaders and public health professionals from across the public sector in Wales.

The WHO’s European Regions for Health Network will for the first time hold its annual meeting in Wales. The Regions for Health Network is the interface between the World Health Organization and regions/sub-national health authorities across Europe.
The Welsh Public Health Conference will be conducted in association with the annual business meeting of the Regions for Health Network where all members of the network are expected. At present there has been confirmation of attendees from regions in Sweden, Germany, Italy and Slovenia. In addition there will be representatives from the WHO offices at Copenhagen and Venice and the WHO expert collaborating centre at the University of Maastricht.

Anyone interested in registering for the conference can do so via the online registration form.

For further information on the conference content please email publichealth.conference@wales.nhs.uk

The conference is free to attend for all those working within the public or voluntary sector in Wales.
There is a fee of £200 for anyone wishing to attend from outside Wales or from the private sector. Anyone who is allocated a place but fails to attend without prior notice will be charged £200.

For any enquiries regarding the conference please email publichealth.conference@wales.nhs.uk or telephone (029) 2022 7744, or visit the website – http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sitesplus/888/page/66731

3 day course – Evaluating Complex Public Health Interventions

Evaluating Complex Public Health Interventions (delivered by DECIPHer)

Date: Wednesday 26 – Friday 28 June 2013, 9.30am – 5.00pm

Location: School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Glamorgan Building, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3WT

Tutors: Professor Laurence Moore, Dr. Adam Fletcher and other DECIPHer staff

Course fee: £600 (and a reduced rate of £300 for staff and students of UKCRC Public Health Research Centres of Excellence and of Bristol, Cardiff and Swansea Universities).

There is no fee for: DECIPHer funded staff and students or DECIPHer adopted staff and students.

Course aim and objectives: The aim of this course is to provide participants with a working knowledge of the frameworks and methodologies required to evaluate multilevel complex interventions. The practical challenges and limitations of these frameworks and methodologies will also be also be discussed.

Making a booking: To book a place on the course please complete the online booking form and return to elaine.young@bristol.ac.uk or for more information please visit http://decipher.uk.net/en/content/cms/news-and-events/short-courses/evaluating-intervent/.

2 day course – Developing Complex Public Health Interventions

Developing Complex Public Health Interventions (delivered by DECIPHer)

Date: Monday 24 – Tuesday 25 June 2013, 9.30am – 5.00pm

Location: School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Glamorgan Building, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3WT

Tutors: Professor Laurence Moore, Dr. Adam Fletcher and other DECIPHer staff

Course fee: £400 (and a reduced rate of £200 for staff and students of UKCRC Public Health Research Centres of Excellence and of Bristol, Cardiff and Swansea Universities).

There is no fee for: DECIPHer funded staff and students or DECIPHer adopted staff and students.

Course aim and objectives: The aim of this course is to provide an introduction to the socio-ecological model of health and how it can be used as a framework to design and theorise public health interventions and policies. Complex systems perspectives and trans-disciplinary approaches will also be covered.

Caring for the Younger Generation: Delivering Outcomes, Supporting Lives

Caring for the Younger Generation: Delivering Outcomes, Supporting Lives

Date: 24 October 2013
Venue: Manchester Conference Centre

The topics to be discussed at this conference include improving the health outcomes of children and young people, involving young people in mental health service design, and tackling health inequalities for children and young people.

Delegates will have the opportunity to hear more on the forum’s findings, its recommendations and the government’s intentions for implementation. New ways of working will be debated and best practice case studies shared allowing stakeholders to gain insightful knowledge that can be utilised to benefit the health of our young people.

Click here for further information.

Training course – Advanced Analysis of Linked Health Data

Advanced Analysis of Linked Health Data

Date: 1 – 5 July 2013
Venue: Swansea University

The Health Information Research Unit (HIRU) in association with the Centre for the Improvement of Population Health through E-health Research (CIPHER) is hosting a 5-day training course on the analysis of linked health data.

This course is ideal for health and social care researchers, social scientists, clinical practitioners and health care managers who wish to build on their pre-existing theoretical knowledge and skills in the analysis of linked health data.

For further information and details of how to register visit www.linkedhealthdata.swansea.ac.uk/training.html

Healthy, Happy, Fairer Communities: Welsh Public Health Conference 2013

Society for Social Medicine Annual Scientific Meeting 2013

Evaluating Complex Public Health Interventions (delivered by DECIPHer)

Developing Complex Public Health Interventions (delivered by DECIPHer)

Advanced Analysis of Linked Health Data