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CRN Wessex video transcript: Creating new pathways for research in a local authority

Contents

Gail: I’m Gail Mann. I’m the Research Development Lead at Portsmouth City Council.

Matt: Hi, I’m Matt I’m the Head of Strategic Intelligence in Research in the Public Health Team at Portsmouth City Council.

Public health is is kind of everything that we did in our lives all the time. So, you know, the air that we breathe, the way that we travel around, the environments we live in, the lifestyle choices that we make and how those affects our health and the health of the communities that we live in.

So the research is a really important element of that because we don't understand the evidence behind these things and what works in terms of improving them, then we're not going to be able to make the difference to people's lives. That is kind of why we all work in public health.

Gail: And the purpose of the role is to introduce research activity and research culture within local authorities. And and in that sense, I'm doing a kind of exploratory role, really trying to understand what the needs are in terms of research development and starting to think about how to embed research thinking in the organisation.

And and I suppose that's what is great about it, that every day is different because you're always problem solving or new opportunities come up to speak to somebody else and see connections between and opportunities to bring people who are researchers together with people who are working in practice.

Matt: So what we're trying to do is, is build up those kind of communities of researchers, as Gail was saying earlier, building on building into their day to day work. So research becomes part of how how we do things around here so that they're then ready to apply for these opportunities when they come along.

The video is available to view on NIHR TV