Our thanks go to Joe Langley and Rebecca Partridge from the Lab4Living team at Sheffield Hallam University for designing and facilitating the co-production workshop that developed our design framework, and to Chris Redford for designing the visual landscape (workstreams 1 and 2). We are also extremely appreciative of the enthusiastic participation of embedded researchers and their managers during our scoping work (workstream 2). In addition, we are very grateful to the four case study sites (and the additional pilot site) for their unwavering support and enthusiasm. In particular, we are extremely appreciative of each of the embedded researchers who went above and beyond to help us with our study (workstream 3).
The Embedded project was supported in the design and delivery of workshops, digital events and practical resources (workstream 4) by Kaleidoscope Health and Care. Kaleidoscope Health and Care is a social enterprise that brings people together to improve health and care through the creation of engaging events, fostering collaboration, providing strategy advice and supporting research and evaluation, and we are grateful for its contribution to this project.
The Embedded project had a PPI group that consisted of Karen Bollan, Tessa Holmes, Richard Parnell and David Woodcock, and we are very thankful for their many contributions to this programme.
We also received excellent advice and welcome challenge from our steering group: Mike Cooke (chairperson), Andrew Bindman, Kevin Orr, John Ovretveit, Barbara Riley, Martin Utley and Lesley Wye. We are very grateful for their ongoing interest and support.
Finally, Emily Bellshaw at University College London provided excellent project management and administrative support throughout, keeping the various strands of the work on track and properly documented, and Nic Barnard provided hugely appreciated subediting skills during the compilation of this final report. Their extremely valuable contributions are noted with sincere thanks.
Contributions of authors
Martin Marshall (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8575-5442) (Professor of Healthcare Improvement) was principal investigator and oversaw all aspects of project delivery. He was also co-lead for workstream 4.
Huw Davies (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2653-3695) (Professor of Healthcare Policy and Management) was co-lead for workstreams 1 and 2, and led on assembling the final report with Martin Marshall.
Vicky Ward (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8684-0403) (Reader in Management, Director of Impact and Co-director of the Research Unit for Research Utilisation) was co-lead for workstreams 1 and 2.
Justin Waring (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1459-5896) (Professor of Medical Sociology and Healthcare Organisation) was co-lead for workstream 3.
Naomi J Fulop (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5306-6140) (Professor of Healthcare Organisation and Management) was co-lead for workstream 3.
Liz Mear (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5523-0338) (Managing Director, Leeds Academic Health Partnership; formerly chief executive, Innovation Agency) was co-lead for workstream 4.
Breid O’Brien (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3647-895X) (Director of Digital Transformation) was co-lead for workstream 4.
Richard Parnell was independent PPI lead on the project team.
Katherine Kirk (Research Fellow, School of Social Policy) was research fellow on workstream 3.
Benet Reid (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4408-8791) (Associate Lecturer, School of Management) and Tricia Tooman (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1227-2033) (Research Fellow, School of Management) were research fellows on workstreams 1 and 2.
All authors were involved in the programme conception, design, methods, analysis and interpretation. All authors contributed to delivering the programme and to the drafting, revision and approval of the final report.
Publications
Mear M, Fulop N. How the ‘lonely ones’ can drive meaningful change. 2019. URL: https://hsj.co.uk/service-design/how-the-lonely-ones-can-drive-meaningful-change/7025001.article (accessed 22 January 2021).
Ward V, Tooman T, Reid B, Davies H, Marshall M. Embedding researchers into organisations: a study of the features of embedded research initiatives [published online ahead of print 19 April 2021]. Evid Policy 2021.
Ward V, Tooman T, Reid B, Davies H, O’Brien B, Mear L, et al. A framework to support the design and cultivation of embedded research initiatives [published online ahead of print 19 April 2021]. Evid Policy 2021.
Presentations on embedding and knowledge co-production
Marshall M. Increasing Research Impact: The Researcher-in-Residence Model. Keynote address at the NIHR School for Primary Care Research research showcase, London, 13 November 2018.
Marshall M. On the Role of General Practice-Based Primary Care in Challenging the Traditional Medical Model of Care and Promoting One that More Effectively Addresses the Social Determinants of Ill Health in Our Communities. Primary Care Forum, Singapore, 25 October 2018.
Fulop N. Learning from Embedded Research. AcademyHealth (U.S. national health services research network) annual conference. Washington, DC, 2–4 June 2019.
Marshall M. On Improvement Science. National Healthcare Group Polyclinics, Singapore, 29 March–6 April 2019.
Mear L. How to Embed Research. Royal College of Physicians Research Effect Conference, Liverpool, 28 November 2019.
Mear L. The Potential of Embedded Research. AHSN Chief Officers Meeting (online meeting), 10 December 2019.
Reid B, Ward V, Davies H, Tooman T. Knowledge Co-Production: A Vocabulary of Concepts. Presentation at Researching Knowledge Co-production: What Do We Know and Where Do We Go Next? Research Unit for Research Utilisation, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, 8 October 2019.
Reid B, Ward V, Tooman T, Davies H. The Design Features of Embedded Research Initiatives. Poster presentation at the UK Knowledge Mobilisation Forum, Newcastle, 20–21 March 2019.
Ward V. The Features of Embedded Research Initiatives and a Framework to Support Their Design and Operationalisation. Presentation at a Local Authority Champions of Research (LACoR) project workshop, London, 19 September 2019.
Kirk K, Waring J, Ward V, Fulop N, Mear L. Embedding Researchers into Organisations: Studying the Features of Embedded Research Initiatives. Health Services Research UK, online conference, 1–3 July 2020.
Various other events for which the team had submissions accepted for presentation were cancelled because of COVID-19 (e.g. the Institute for Healthcare Improvement Research Symposium; the NHS ConfedExpo; the Organisational Learning, Knowledge and Capabilities conference).
Webinars on embedded research
The project webinars and ‘melting pot lunches’ are listed in the Resources section of the Embedded Research project website.67
Data-sharing statement
All data requests should be submitted to the corresponding author for consideration. Access to anonymised data may be granted following review.
Disclaimers
This report presents independent research funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The views and opinions expressed by authors in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the NHS, the NIHR, NETSCC, the HSDR programme or the Department of Health and Social Care. If there are verbatim quotations included in this publication the views and opinions expressed by the interviewees are those of the interviewees and do not necessarily reflect those of the authors, those of the NHS, the NIHR, NETSCC, the HSDR programme or the Department of Health and Social Care.