Embed, Build, Accelerate – Manchester BRC Director’s blog – February 2025

Through Embed, Build, Accelerate, I continue to focus on different areas across Manchester BRC and for this edition I wanted to talk to you about Research Inclusion.

Research Inclusion encompasses inclusive research methods (IRM), equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), and patient and public involvement, engagement and participation (PPIEP).

The mission of the NIHR is to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research. Essential to the success of that goal is identifying ways to minimise inequalities and maximise inclusion practices across their research, culture and systems. How they plan to achieve this is set out in the NIHR Research Inclusion Strategy 2022-27.

Equally, at Manchester BRC we are committed to delivering on Research Inclusion and we are addressing this through our IRM, EDI and PPIE work, aligned with our Inclusive Research Oversight Board (IROB). We define these as:

• PPIE: Ensuring patients and people with diverse lived experience have a say in research.
• IRM: Applying inclusive research methods in translational research.
• EDI: Creating an inclusive culture for our workforce and students.

You can find out more about these areas, including our EDI and PPIEP strategies, on our website. We all have a collective responsibility to ensure our research is inclusive, and meets the needs of our diverse communities, and it is fantastic to see this being incorporated into activities from across our four Clusters.

Advanced Diagnostics and Therapeutics Catalyst:

As part of our Next Generation Phenotyping and Diagnostics Theme (NGPD) funding call, the Inclusive Research Methods (IRM) team supported the study on ovarian cancer led by Dr Robert Morgan. The IRM team member introduced the NIHR diversity workforce questions to the researcher for anonymised non-linked monitoring of participants. Their observational study in the North West Genomic Laboratory Hub has enabled the Principal Investigator to develop methods to increase inclusivity over time in the design of subsequent studies.

Cancer:

In September 2022, the Cancer Community Insight Group (C.C.I.G.), a dedicated public group of 12 community members based in Gorton, was established by Vocal and our Cancer Prevention and Early Detection Theme to inform health equitable approaches to research. This initiative has piloted a community listening approach to research, in which researchers from across this Theme join the group to listen and reflect on what matters most to community members.

Under-Researched Conditions:

At January’s BRC Strategic Executive and IROB meetings, colleagues from our Hearing Health Theme gave a presentation on ‘Inclusivity Indicators’ in their research participation data to find out who was taking part. This is a great example of a Theme-wide approach to widening participation and recruitment strategies. By collecting data consistently across research projects on participant demographics and protected characteristics, the team were able to identify which communities were less likely to take part in their research studies, and hence to develop strategies to reach out to those communities, making their research more representative of the local population.

Inflammation:

One of the goals of our Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Diseases (RMD) Theme is to better understand the diversity of participation in our research studies and improve this by building long-term relationships within the local community, facilitating equitable research.

The Theme also set up research studies specifically to help understand why some communities do not currently participate in our studies.

To help improve inclusion, the Theme have nurtured relationships with local Indian community groups and invited them to share their voice to ensure we work collaboratively. This will help us to understand barriers and identify solutions.

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To help embed our inclusive research work, we are developing a new dedicated resource area on the Manchester BRC website where you will be able to access latest regional and national advice and guidance on Inclusive Research.

The purpose will be to share best practice on inclusive research methodologies and will include documents, templates, toolkits and much more. Look out for further information on this resource area when live.

The NIHR have updated funding requirements to ensure inclusive research is included in all applications for NIHR funding. This means applicants need to demonstrate how their research will address existing inequalities in health and social care, as a condition of NIHR funding. These changes in funding requirements require us to demonstrate how inclusion is built into every stage of the research lifecycle. You can find out more about why NIHR has made inclusion a key condition of their funding by reading this blog.

It’s also vitally important that we understand the diversity of our own workforce. Please look out for your invitation to participate in our Workforce Diversity Survey, which will help us measure progress on workforce diversity and create a more inclusive workplace. I would encourage everyone to complete this – your participation is crucial in helping us understand and improve diversity and inclusion within our community.

Aligned with our EDI strategy, we are encouraging colleagues to identify individual and team EDI-related objectives. We are developing reflective toolkits to support you with this. We will let you know when these resources are live and see what actions you can take; from increasing your EDI knowledge and self-awareness, reflecting on inclusive recruitment and authorship practices, to leading on inclusive reward and recognition.

Thank you

Professor Anne Barton

Director of the NIHR Manchester BRC

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Further information and links

For NIHR’s Inclusive Research funding application guidance please visit this webpage. If you would like to discuss any aspect with our IR Methods Team, please use this link for the MS Teams drop-in clinics every second Tuesday, from 2 – 3 pm. To request help from the team, please complete this short form or if you would like to recommend a student literature review, please complete this short survey.