DECIPHer

The UK Clinical Research Collaboration was a partnership which brought together the major stakeholders that influence clinical research in the UK. It included the main UK research funding bodies: academia; the NHS; regulatory bodies; the bioscience, healthcare and pharmaceutical industries; and patients. Its aim was to re-engineer the clinical research environment in the UK, to benefit the public and patients by improving national health and increasing national wealth.

The UKCRC has provided a forum to facilitate coordination between funding bodies leading to joint initiatives in public health and infection research. One of these is the UKCRC Public Health Research: Centres of Excellence Initiative. In 2006, the major funders of public health research in the UK came together under the auspices of the UKCRC to develop a coordinated approach to improving the UK public health research environment. The findings of the UKCRC Public Health Research Strategic Planning Group (SPG) are documented in a report, Strengthening Public Health Research in the UK.

The outcome of the SPG was a commitment of over £20m by a consortium of eight funding partners (British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Department of Health, Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council, Research and Development Office for the Northern Ireland Health and Social Services, Wales Office of Research and Development (now National Institute of Social Care and Health Research), Welsh Assembly Government and Wellcome Trust) to create five UKCRC Public Health Research Centres of Excellence, of which DECIPHer is one.

Establishment of the Centres is intended to build academic capacity, increase infrastructure and promote multi-disciplinary working in public health research in the UK. The Centres are designed to bring leading research experts together with practitioners, policy makers and wider stakeholders to tackle complex public health issues. UKCRC website.

The Medical Research Council funds excellent science with the aim of improving human health. Its work ranges from science at the molecular level to public health research carried out in universities, hospitals and a network of units and institutes.

The MRC works closely with the Health Departments in England and the devolved administrations, the NHS, other research councils, industry and charities. The results have led to some of the most significant discoveries in medical science and benefited millions of people in the UK and around the world.

Our work boosts the economy. It improves the health of the workforce, helps to fuel the ever growing knowledge economy, and attracts international investment to our shores.

Medical Research Council website

The Wellcome Trust is the largest charity in the UK. We spend around £600 million every year supporting and promoting biomedical research that can improve the health of humans and animals.

Our funding supports work ranging from basic science through to medical history, from projects delivering direct clinical benefits through to studies of thorny ethical issues. We have been an independent charity for over 70 years. In that time we have always supported excellent research, recognising the need to provide long-term support, as most biomedical discoveries are incremental and build on past achievements.

The work that we have funded has brought great benefits to human and animal health worldwide. However, with many medical challenges still facing us, we will continue to support research and activities today so we all benefit from better health tomorrow.

Wellcome Trust website

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is the UK's largest organisation for funding research on economic and social issues. It supports independent, high quality research which has an impact on business, the public sector and the third sector. The ESRC's planned total expenditure in 2009/10 is £204 million.

At any one time the ESRC supports over 4,000 researchers and postgraduate students in academic institutions and independent research institutes.

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) website.
 

Cancer Research UK is the world's leading independent organisation dedicated to cancer research. We carry out world class research to improve our understanding of cancer and find out how to prevent, diagnose and treat different kinds of cancer. With a scientific spend of £333 million in 2007/08, we fund over 4,500 world-class scientists, doctors and nurses in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

We ensure that our findings are used to improve the lives of cancer patients through clinical trials.Cancer Research UK is currently supporting over 100 clinical trials, many of which are testing new drugs and treatments for cancer.

Cancer Research UK is also committed to helping people to understand cancer through our cancer information nurses, our patient information website, CancerHelp UK, and our mobile cancer health promotion units. We run a number of health awareness campaigns as well as producing a wide range of printed and online information so that we can raise public awareness of the risks and symptoms for cancer and highlight ways to reduce the risk of the disease.

Cancer Research UK website.
 

The British Heart Foundation “Our vision is of a world in which people do not die prematurely of heart disease. We will achieve this through our pioneering research, our vital prevention activity and by ensuring quality care and support for people living with heart disease. But if we are to succeed in beating heart disease, it's vital that everyone is aware of our objectives - and how we are working to achieve them. As the nation's heart charity, the British Heart Foundation focuses on three vital things:

• Investing in pioneering research - We fund around 1,200 research projects investigating every aspect of heart disease - from causes and safer drugs to improving surgical techniques.
• Supporting and caring for heart patients - We fund BHF Nurses who visit heart patients with all types of heart conditions in their homes. We provide defibrillators and echocardiograph machines for hospitals, emergency services and first-aiders.
• Providing vital information to help people reduce their own risk of dying prematurely from a heart or circulatory related illness - We produce publications, videos and other materials for health professionals and the public including children. We inform people about how to improve the health of their heart through public information campaigns, advertising and the media.
• ”Taken from The British Heart Foundation website.