Northern Health Futures Hub
Lead Research Organisation:
Newcastle University
Department Name: Sch of Computing
Abstract
The Northern Health Futures (NortHFutures) hub aims to create a world-leading healthcare technology (health-tech) development ecosystem. This will address unmet health needs and inequalities by supporting: inclusive digital skills training and sharing; research, innovation and entrepreneurship, enabled by digital design. Based in the North East and North Cumbria (NENC), with national and global reach, NortHFutures will support underserved communities, as it is known that national disparity of investment in NENC negatively impacts population health and wellbeing, and that a 'levelling up' of investment is needed to stimulate socio-economic and cultural growth for all, to encourage living and ageing well.
NortHFutures builds upon the joined-up NENC approach to people-powered digital health innovation, as our regional Integrated Care Board (ICB) uniquely involves local authorities, communities, and citizens. Academic team members have a research track record that is stakeholder-involved and civic- and community-engaged. They are world-leading on understanding (i) health inequalities from medical, social, and design perspectives, and (ii) the opportunities for enrichment and enablement related to ageing well, connecting rural and urban populations, and pioneering applications of data science. In the pilot phase, we draw on this specialist expertise to address evidenced unmet health needs in NENC, (which have national and global importance): children and young people's health and nutrition; mental health and wellbeing; development of digital surgical pathways (for monitoring patient journeys beyond the hospital); living well with multiple long-term conditions.
We combine the strengths and resources of 6 universities (Newcastle, Cumbria, Durham, Northumbria, Sunderland and Teesside), bringing regional investment in NIHR services, facilities and Applied Research Collaborations, plus National Innovation Centres for Ageing (NICA), Data (NICD) and Rural Enterprise (NICRE), National Horizons Centre (NHC), EPSRC Digital Economy programmes in data and digital citizens, and Health Data Research UK, the UK's national institute for health data science. NortHFutures supports new planned Centres, including Northumbria's Centre for Health & Social Equity and Cumbria's new campus and medical school. These University offers combine with an extensive partner network, including: ICB-NENC, 7 NHS Trusts, NHS Business Services Authority, Department of Health and Social Care, Health Education England; VCSE organisations delivering community-based services; industry partners - from SMEs to global tech giants; civic bodies such as Local and Combined Authorities; existing health research networks (e.g. AHSN-NENC, Newcastle Health Innovation Partnership); and innovation accelerators (e.g. Innovation SuperNetwork). Through an integrated, regional approach uniting this consortium for the first time, NortHFutures ambitiously aims to establish global leadership in Digital Health.
To deliver this we will develop a supportive community infrastructure. We will co-design a digital brokerage service to connect and amplify partners' work, to offer and consume expertise, services and facilities (supporting acceleration of health-tech companies at differing tech-readiness levels). We will pioneer a Live Digital Health Databank, to explore, and train for, advanced healthcare data analytics, combining live data flows with care records (e.g. Great North Care Record). This will support personalised health diagnostics and interventions, giving our hub a unique value proposition to companies wishing to explore advanced data technologies. We will invest in Extended Reality pilots, to open up possibilities for clinical practice and service delivery. Our approaches will embed Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI), and Patient and Public Engagement (PPIE) throughout, to deliver health-tech that supports care beyond the hospital and is co-designed with end-users.
NortHFutures builds upon the joined-up NENC approach to people-powered digital health innovation, as our regional Integrated Care Board (ICB) uniquely involves local authorities, communities, and citizens. Academic team members have a research track record that is stakeholder-involved and civic- and community-engaged. They are world-leading on understanding (i) health inequalities from medical, social, and design perspectives, and (ii) the opportunities for enrichment and enablement related to ageing well, connecting rural and urban populations, and pioneering applications of data science. In the pilot phase, we draw on this specialist expertise to address evidenced unmet health needs in NENC, (which have national and global importance): children and young people's health and nutrition; mental health and wellbeing; development of digital surgical pathways (for monitoring patient journeys beyond the hospital); living well with multiple long-term conditions.
We combine the strengths and resources of 6 universities (Newcastle, Cumbria, Durham, Northumbria, Sunderland and Teesside), bringing regional investment in NIHR services, facilities and Applied Research Collaborations, plus National Innovation Centres for Ageing (NICA), Data (NICD) and Rural Enterprise (NICRE), National Horizons Centre (NHC), EPSRC Digital Economy programmes in data and digital citizens, and Health Data Research UK, the UK's national institute for health data science. NortHFutures supports new planned Centres, including Northumbria's Centre for Health & Social Equity and Cumbria's new campus and medical school. These University offers combine with an extensive partner network, including: ICB-NENC, 7 NHS Trusts, NHS Business Services Authority, Department of Health and Social Care, Health Education England; VCSE organisations delivering community-based services; industry partners - from SMEs to global tech giants; civic bodies such as Local and Combined Authorities; existing health research networks (e.g. AHSN-NENC, Newcastle Health Innovation Partnership); and innovation accelerators (e.g. Innovation SuperNetwork). Through an integrated, regional approach uniting this consortium for the first time, NortHFutures ambitiously aims to establish global leadership in Digital Health.
To deliver this we will develop a supportive community infrastructure. We will co-design a digital brokerage service to connect and amplify partners' work, to offer and consume expertise, services and facilities (supporting acceleration of health-tech companies at differing tech-readiness levels). We will pioneer a Live Digital Health Databank, to explore, and train for, advanced healthcare data analytics, combining live data flows with care records (e.g. Great North Care Record). This will support personalised health diagnostics and interventions, giving our hub a unique value proposition to companies wishing to explore advanced data technologies. We will invest in Extended Reality pilots, to open up possibilities for clinical practice and service delivery. Our approaches will embed Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI), and Patient and Public Engagement (PPIE) throughout, to deliver health-tech that supports care beyond the hospital and is co-designed with end-users.
Organisations
- Newcastle University (Lead Research Organisation)
- NHS ENGLAND (Collaboration)
- SHEFFIELD HALLAM UNIVERSITY (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON (Collaboration)
- Kings Health Partners (Collaboration)
- University of Sheffield (Collaboration)
- University of Bristol (Collaboration)
- NHS Business Services Authority (Project Partner)
- Collaborative Newcastle (Project Partner)
- Youth Focus: North East (Project Partner)
- TEC Services Association (TSA) (Project Partner)
- Red Hat, Inc (UK) (Project Partner)
- Ways to Wellness Limited (Project Partner)
- Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundat Trust (Project Partner)
- IBM UNITED KINGDOM LIMITED (Project Partner)
- NEWCASTLE CITY COUNCIL (Project Partner)
- Microsoft (Project Partner)
- NHS North East and North Cumbria (Project Partner)
- International Centre for Life Trust (Project Partner)
- Department of Health and Social Care (Project Partner)
- Health Education England (Project Partner)
- Cambridge Future Tech Ltd (Project Partner)
- VONNE (Voluntary Org Network North East) (Project Partner)
- County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust (Project Partner)
- Fuse (Ctr for Translational Research) (Project Partner)
- North of Tyne Combined Authority (Project Partner)
- Siemens Healthcare (Healthineers) Ltd (Project Partner)
- Amazon Web Services (UK) (Project Partner)
- Jumping Rivers Ltd (Project Partner)
- Centre for Process Innovation CPI (UK) (Project Partner)
- CNTW NHS Foundation Trust (Project Partner)
- Recovery College Collective (Project Partner)
- Motivait Holdings Limited (Project Partner)
- Sunderland Software City (Project Partner)
- South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS FT (Project Partner)
- Dynamo Northeast (Project Partner)
- South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Project Partner)
- Tees Valley Combined Authority (Project Partner)
- Northstar Ventures (Project Partner)
- Invest Newcastle (Project Partner)
- Directors of Adult Social Services (Project Partner)
- apoQlar GmbH (Project Partner)
- Healthworks (Project Partner)
- Carlisle Youth Zone (Project Partner)
- Conception X Limited (Project Partner)
- North East and North Cumbria AHSN (Project Partner)
- Northern Health Science Alliance Ltd (Project Partner)
- SYS Systems Limited (Project Partner)
- Cobalt Data Centres Ltd (Project Partner)
Publications
Corona-Figueroa A
(2023)
Unaligned 2D to 3D Translation with Conditional Vector-Quantized Code Diffusion using Transformers
Crosato L
(2023)
Social Interaction-Aware Dynamical Models and Decision-Making for Autonomous Vehicles
in Advanced Intelligent Systems
Vijendran M
(2024)
Artificial intelligence for geometry-based feature extraction, analysis and synthesis in artistic images: a survey
in Artificial Intelligence Review
Xiatian Zhang F
(2025)
Adaptive Graph Learning From Spatial Information for Surgical Workflow Anticipation
in IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics
Zhang H
(2024)
Pose-based tremor type and level analysis for Parkinson's disease from video.
in International journal of computer assisted radiology and surgery
Zheng S
(2024)
Unraveling the brain dynamics of Depersonalization-Derealization Disorder: a dynamic functional network connectivity analysis.
in BMC psychiatry
| Description | Mobilising UK Data and AI for All with a National Grid of Civic Learning Systems. Northern Health Science Alliance and partners |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Impact | The paper was published in March 2025, changes and impacts are in development. |
| URL | https://www.thenhsa.co.uk/app/uploads/2025/03/National-Grid-of-Civic-Learning-Systems-NHSA-and-partn... |
| Description | Parliamentary and Scientific Committee (P&SC) APPG Discussion on Digital Health |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| URL | https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/135/science-innovation-and-technology-committee |
| Description | Royal Anniversary Prize Coronation Challenge: UK Consultation on Creative Technologies the Future of the Creative Industries |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| URL | https://royalanniversarytrust.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/CreaTech-Report.pdf |
| Description | PhD Studentship |
| Amount | £70,224 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Northumbria University |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2024 |
| End | 10/2027 |
| Description | Targeting Health Needs |
| Amount | £29,338 (GBP) |
| Organisation | National Institute for Health Research |
| Department | NIHR Clinical Research Network (CRN) |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 08/2024 |
| End | 03/2025 |
| Description | UKRI Newcastle University PhD Studentship |
| Amount | £70,224 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | COMP2165 |
| Organisation | Newcastle University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2025 |
| End | 01/2026 |
| Title | NortHFutures Training Catalyst Tool |
| Description | Software system (Web tool) developed and deployed - NortHFutures Training Catalyst - is used to dynamically document and share training offers and opportunities from NortHFutures Consortium members. It is published, currently live, and in use. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | This research tool is live and has been used to support the NortHFutures cross-sector hub consortium with the following activities: identifying digital health training offers and opportunities; and identifying collaborative research partners with particular specialist expertise to work on funding bids or hub projects. |
| URL | https://training.northfutures.org/ |
| Description | NHS Digital Academy for Open Education across EPSRC Digital Health Hub Programme |
| Organisation | NHS England |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Partnered and collaborated with NHS Digital Academy to co-develop a position paper for the Development of Open Curriculum Standards, grounded in principles of accessibility and inclusion, and development and use of Open Source tools and resources. This was presented at the EPSRC/UKRI Digital Health Hub (DHH) Steering Board meeting, which has resulted in collaborative work across across the other Digital Health Hubs in this programme. We are currently documenting barriers and opportunities for University participation in Open Curriculum initiatives for Digital Health training, and are providing shared access to Open Learning materials. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Other Hubs are contributing. James Freed (NHS Digital Academy) is contributing in-kind time to run and manage the group on behalf of NortHFutures / NHS England. |
| Impact | Outputs are still developing. Yes multidisciplinary, includes design, computing, and health sciences. |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | Training Hub Managers Group |
| Organisation | Kings Health Partners |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Hospitals |
| PI Contribution | Our team are attending monthly meetings with the other Hub Managers to discuss and share best practice in the development of training resources across the Hubs. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Sharing of best practice in the development of training resources across the hubs |
| Impact | Outputs are still developing. This is multidisciplinary, includes design, computing, and health sciences. |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | Training Hub Managers Group |
| Organisation | Sheffield Hallam University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Our team are attending monthly meetings with the other Hub Managers to discuss and share best practice in the development of training resources across the Hubs. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Sharing of best practice in the development of training resources across the hubs |
| Impact | Outputs are still developing. This is multidisciplinary, includes design, computing, and health sciences. |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | Training Hub Managers Group |
| Organisation | University College London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Our team are attending monthly meetings with the other Hub Managers to discuss and share best practice in the development of training resources across the Hubs. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Sharing of best practice in the development of training resources across the hubs |
| Impact | Outputs are still developing. This is multidisciplinary, includes design, computing, and health sciences. |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | Training Hub Managers Group |
| Organisation | University of Bristol |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Our team are attending monthly meetings with the other Hub Managers to discuss and share best practice in the development of training resources across the Hubs. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Sharing of best practice in the development of training resources across the hubs |
| Impact | Outputs are still developing. This is multidisciplinary, includes design, computing, and health sciences. |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | Training Hub Managers Group |
| Organisation | University of Sheffield |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Our team are attending monthly meetings with the other Hub Managers to discuss and share best practice in the development of training resources across the Hubs. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Sharing of best practice in the development of training resources across the hubs |
| Impact | Outputs are still developing. This is multidisciplinary, includes design, computing, and health sciences. |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Title | Catalyst Tool |
| Description | Software system (Web tool) developed and deployed - NortHFutures Training Catalyst - is used to dynamically document and share training offers from NortHFutures Consortium members. Is currently live. |
| Type Of Technology | Webtool/Application |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Impact | Bringing together offers from across the region into a single location. Platform will also be adapted for other uses across the programme. |
| URL | https://training.northfutures.org/ |
| Description | Cross-Sector Research Workshops |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | To support the developement of cross-sector research teams, we ran eight workshops across four research themes (2 per theme): digital surgical pathways, living and ageing well with multiple long term conditions, and mental health and wellbeing. We opted for the one-day commitment to make the workshops more accessible to non-academic participants with limited availability. Attendance was curated through an expression of interest form to manage an even spread of sectors and experience. Throughout the workshop we introduced the theme, setting it within the context of NortHFutures, and outlined the funding opportunity and facilitated networking among participants. We also incorporated a training element to support diverse teams in understanding the key steps in developing a research question, understanding stakeholder engagement and mapping, and support in the completion of the pro forma of their initial ideas. Our approach generated widespread interest and participation, demonstrating the demand for inclusive, cross-sector collaboration in digital health research. In numbers: 271 expressions of interest received 116 workshop participants selected 24% participants from VCSE organisations |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | http://northfutures.org/posts/driving-inclusive-digital-health-innovation/ |
| Description | Diagnostics NE 19th April 2024 (Newcastle) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Gold sponsor of the annual Diagnostics North East conference is being held on Friday 19th April at the Catalyst, Newcastle upon Tyne. The theme of the conference is How can diagnostic innovation be the saviour for the NHS? |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://healthinnovationnenc.org.uk/event/diagnostics-north-east-2024/ |
| Description | Digital Health Symposium |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | We brought together digital health, data, and technology experts from across NENC and the UK for a day of knowledge exchange, discussion, and learning on the digital future of healthcare. The Symposium was designed for professionals working in healthcare, social care, healthcare technologies, academia, and the voluntary, community, and social enterprise (VCSE) sector who were interested in innovation and eager to explore the digital future of healthcare. It provided an opportunity to network and participate in seminars and training workshops on data science and responsible innovation practices for healthcare. Keynote Speaker: Graham Evans, Chief Digital and Infrastructure Officer/SIRO | NHS North East and North Cumbria - Integrated Care Board, Honorary Professor at Teesside University. Featured Talks: Data Science and AI Solutions for Healthcare - Georgina Cosma, Professor of AI and Data Science at Loughborough University Engaging Clinical Teams in Delivering Change - Gordon Elder, Associate Director of Nursing, The Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust & Regional Chief Nursing Information Officer for NHS North East & Yorkshire On AI and Clinical Safety - Basil Bekdash, Consultant Paediatric Surgeon, Clinical Safety Officer, and Digital Lead, Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust Case Studies: Supporting Health-Tech Innovation - Julie Lynn, Head of Business Development in Adult Social Care, Sunderland City Council & Jody Nichols, Health Innovation North East and North Cumbria Lightning Talks and Panel Discussion: The Future of Professional Data Science Roles for Healthcare Chair: Mike Trenell, Founder, DAISER Facilitator: Antonia Dingle, PhD, Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) Panelists: Arne Wolters, Head of Improvement Analytics, NIHR Applied Research Collaboration for the North East and North Cumbria & CNTW Emma Karoune, Deputy Lead of the Research Community Management team within the Tools, Practices and Systems Research Programme at The Alan Turing Institute Colin Gillespie, CTO, Jumping Rivers Ltd, and Senior Lecturer of Statistics at Newcastle University Thomas Owen, Data Scientist, NHS Business Services Authority Participants also joined Skills Sharing Workshops for hands-on experience, including: AI in Healthcare: Exploring Bias, Digital Literacy, and the Future of Patient Journeys with Georgina Cosma Innovation Skills for Healthcare Professionals with Sarah Cox, Innovation Missions Lead, Innovation SuperNetwork |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.northfutures.org/posts/northfutures-digital-health-symposium-2024/ |
| Description | Digital Inclusion Design Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The NortHFutures team explored how organisations across different sectors worked with health and care data. With funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), we investigated data and mapping activity related to digital exclusion and inclusion in the NENC region. This work informed the design of new prototype tools and resources to support decision-making around digital inclusion projects. As part of this process, we sought feedback on early prototype designs for these tools and resources. During the session, we: • Shared examples of existing data tools and resources • Presented early design ideas for new tools and resources • Facilitated discussions to gather feedback on their usefulness and potential improvements The insights gathered helped shape our work, ensuring that the designs were practical, relevant, and impactful. The input also contributed to a report on future data strategy for addressing digital exclusion in the region. This was an opportunity to ensure that diverse priorities and perspectives were reflected in this work. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| Description | EPSRC Digital Health Policy Event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The aim of the event was to raise the profile of digital technologies for health and the role of Engineering & Physical Sciences research in this area, as well as to provide EPSRC with advice on key opportunities for future investment in digital technologies for health. The event catered to around 70-100 attendees, including academics, industry representatives, charities, other government departments, the digital health hub steering board, and other UKRI councils. The format of the event included a show-and-tell session (with posters) featuring key grant holders in this space, including the digital health hubs. This was followed by a panel debate on future opportunities in the field. Wehighlighted our case study research (via a poster) that we are conducting with regional partners who are developing a subnational Secure Data Environment (SDE). This SDE is envisioned to enable collaborative research with health and care data. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | EPSRC Pan-Regional Showcase Event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The Principal Investigator, Abigail Durrant, and Co-Investigator, Vikki Rand were invited to present the NortHFutures hub programme at a UKRI/EPSRC Regional Showcase event on 6th November 2023, which took place at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester. Confirmed list of speakers included the following. Greater Lincolnshire and North Cambridgeshire (LINCAM) region agricultural technologies (agri-tech) cluster project - One of 10 projects across the UK to receive EPSRC funding in October 2023 to build place focused research and innovation clusters: Simon Pearson, University of Lincoln and colleagues from the University of Cambridge UKFin+ Funding Research Collaborations for Wicked Problems in Financial Services - Working with regional fintech networks across the UK to link research expertise on cyber security, financial inclusion, quantum finance and decentralised finance to the financial industry, consumers and regulators: Aad van Moorsel, University of Birmingham Digital Health Hub for the North East of England and North Cumbria - The Northern Health Futures project is tackling place based health and social inequalities through the application of world-leading health technologies: Abi Durrant, Newcastle University and Vikki Rand, Teeside University Civic-university collaboration to build the case for new research infrastructures - How regional engagement has helped researchers at Liverpool and their partners to develop the design for a new national facility identified for the Daresbury Laboratory North West England. If funded, it will offer transformational measuring capabilities for personalised medicine, energy storage and clean growth Nigel Browning, University of Liverpool Including citizens in artificial intelligence ethics and governance - Helping researchers across Greater Manchester involve and engage the public in artificial intelligence research, this project aims to build capacity for public engagement with research into information and communication technologies. Keeley Crockett, Manchester Metropolitan University |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Hacking Child Tech |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Exhibition stand at NIHR-led event, with a focus on children and young people. We also used the opportunity for some lightweight data gathering on the subject matter which was used to inform subsequent research workshops. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://io.nihr.ac.uk/events/nihr-innovation-observatory-hacking-child-tech-event/ |
| Description | Health Innovation North East and North Cumbria (HI-NENC) Event at the National Horizons Centre at Teesside University |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | 'Funding' March Health & Life Sciences Pledge Event On behalf of Health Innovation for the North East and North Cumbria (HI NENC) and the Integrated Care Board North East North Cumbria (ICB NENC), we are delighted to invite you as a guest to the Health and Life Sciences Pledge March event which aims to discuss the topic of 'Funding' We have lined up some fantastic speakers to cover SBRI, NIHR, Innovate UK and British Business Bank. We will also have organised a guided tour of The National Horizon Centre facilities after lunch. The purpose of the HLS Pledge is to bring together the regional health and life sciences ecosystem, with the aim of collectively addressing our regional health and social care challenges; gaining recognition for our unique infrastructure and assets on both a national and international stage; working cohesively to identify opportunities and attract investment to the region; and celebrating our collective success in the innovation arena. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Health Innovation North East and North Cumbria: Health Life Sciences Pledge Event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Principal Investigator presented the hub programme to a cross-sector regional audiences of stakeholders in healthcare technologies and innovation, in November 2023. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://hlspledge.org.uk/ |
| Description | Informatics Skills Development Network (ISDN) North East Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | In Autumn 2023 NortHFutures Hub PI Abigail Durrant and Co-I Matthew Forshaw presented the hub programme and training work package to the regional ISDN annual conference (Informatics Skills Development Network North East and North Cumbria). A direct consequence of this was to meet Chief Clinical Information Officer (CCIO) for the regional Integrated Care Board and establish a network for communication with CCIOs across the who region, about NortHFutures training opportunities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://northeastnorthcumbria.nhs.uk/media/id5lz112/lynn-hartley-isdn.pdf |
| Description | Innovation SuperNetwork Digital Cluster Showcase |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Presentation and participation at the event. Since our Digital Cluster North of Tyne programme began in January 2022, we've worked with innovative digital businesses of all shapes and sizes across the North of Tyne and facilitated the growth of a range of sub-sectors including EdTech, FinTech, Cyber Security, Net Zero Tech, Data & AI and Health Tech. We are very proud of what has been achieved with the support of our partners and funders, North of Tyne Combined Authority so the time has come to celebrate the success of the North of Tyne's Tech community and showcase some of the growing businesses we have supported in each of the thriving sub-sectors. We've also partnered with Silicon Mingle, the growth community for tech entrepreneurs, startups, founders, hackers, and creators. to bring you a special 'Mini Mingle' to close the day in style! |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://supernetwork.org.uk/events/digital-innovation-showcase/ |
| Description | Integrated Care Board (ICB) for North East and North Cumbria (NENC) region: Digital Inclusion Strategy Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Working group held in November 2023, led and chaired by consultants Thrive by Design commissioned by NENC ICB, to inform development of Digital Inclusion Strategy for NENC IBC. The EPSRC NortHFutures Hub PI and Hub Manager contributed to discussions and provided considerations for the design of accessible digital 'touchpoints' in health and care systems and services. This was a formative activity in a longitudinal programme of work to inform the Digital Inclusion Strategy. Research insights from EPSRC INTUIT were also presented as highly relevant to inform discussion. Our involvement and follow-on conversations with the Chair of the Digital Inclusion Strategy group led to us being invited to become members of the group. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.thrivebydesign.org.uk/our-learning/new-project-north-east-and-north-cumbria-ics-digital-... |
| Description | MedConnect North: Exploring Digital Innovations within HealthTech |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The event brought together over 150 industry and NHS innovators in an exciting day of networking, presentations and workshops on a variety of topics relating to MedTech research and the support that's available. We delivered a lightning talk to raise the profile of NortHFutures, and hosted an exhibition stand where we were able to directly interact with delegates and explore discussions around potential collaboration and engagements. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | N8 CIR Child of the North Collaborative Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | On 18th October 2024 Professor Abigail Durrant contributed to the organisation and delivery of a strategic workshop led by N8 Computationally Intensive Research Consortium and Child of the North (Northern Health Sciences Alliance and Health Equity North). The health and wellbeing of our children is vitally important to the future, and a series of recent reports from CoTN have evidenced inequalities in health and public services across the North of England that impact children's opportunities to thrive, garnering interest from various government departments. Furthermore, a number of evidence-based plans to improve the situation have been proposed, many of which rely upon digital technology. However, whilst digital innovations can be transformative, they can also deepen forms of exclusion - for example due to issues of access, literacy or affordability. Motivated by recent evidence about health inequalities and children's technology interactions, this workshop brought together practitioners working across sectors from across the UK to identify key areas for future collaboration between CoTN, interested external partners, and the N8 Computationally Intensive Research group, which offers special expertise in Digital Health, Humanities, and Machine Learning. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.n8research.org.uk/n8-workshop-aligns-data-science-with-regional-effort-to-support-childr... |
| Description | NHSA Consultation Workshop: innovation for prevention |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | NHSA conducted a number of consultations with members on potential themes based on pan-Northern excellence. Abi Durrant joined as an expert speaker to set the stage and open discussion on the topic, alongside Nick Hamilton from SYDHH, they also delivered a lightning talk to provide examples of the work that the Hibs have been doing. This was followed by a facilitated workshop element to scope a virtual institute and idenfity examples of best practice. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | NICRE Digital Champions NortHFutures Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | The NortHFutures programme collaborated with NICRE to explore how digital technology could benefit people in rural areas in a health and care setting. This workshop examined the barriers to engaging with digital health in a rural context and identified ways to better support both individuals with health and care needs and the NHS. Workshop outputs informed the addition of a health arm to the Rural Digital Inclusion Project, which launched in the autumn as a collaboration between Community Action Northumberland, iNorthumberland, and NICRE. They also contributed to wider efforts to support health and digital inclusion across the region. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | NICRE Rural Innovation Sprint |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Delivered a presentation titled: Overview of NortHFutures Digital Health Hub - addressing rural and coastal interests for supportive health-tech design participated in a short design sprint to explore to surface some rural health and social care challenges that could potentially become Rural Catalyst projects going forward. This led to a follow up session focused on exploring barriers to health and social care in rural settings. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Newcastle University Faculty of Medical Sciences Industrial Advisory Board Meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Principal Investigator Abigail Durrant and Co-Director and Co-I Naeem Soomro presented the hub programme at this industrial advisory board meeting on 22nd November 2023 at Maldron Hotel, Newcastle upon Tyne, and discussed the programme with board members representing healthcare technologies companies and stakeholders in the hub: Joanna Holbrook - Corporate Vice President for Cardio and Renal disease and Site Head of Novo Nordisk Research Centre Oxford Jason R. Dinges - Investment Advisor and IP Counsel at Morningside Technology Advisory LLC Paul Edwards - Director of R&D at Leica Biosystems Ramy Younes - Senior Clinical Programme Leader NASH/Obesity at Boehringer Ingelheim Craig Buckley - Head of Research and Scientific Collaborations at Siemens Healthineers Gillian Dalgliesh - Associate Director at QIAGEN Helen Bright - Vice President R&D at Centauri Therapeutics Adrian Freeman - Senior Director - Emerging Innovations Unit at AstraZeneca Ravi Chana - Head of Business Development at Roche Diagnostics |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | NortHFutures Hub Launch for Partners |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | The core hub operations team at Newcastle University organised a launch event on 6th December 2023 for the EPSRC NortHFutures Hub partners and additional stakeholders who had expressed an interest to get involved in hub activities by joining a mailing list. This event was held at The Catalyst at Newcastle Helix on 6th December 2023 and involved presentations by the Principal Investigator (Abigail Durrant), Co-Investigators who lead Hub work packages across the 6 partner universities, David Burn, PVC for Research, Faculty of Medical Sciences at Newcastle University, plus representatives from core hub partners, including Voluntary Organisations Network North East (VONNE), Health Innovation North East and North Cumbria, Northern Health Sciences Alliance. The audience for this event was cross-sector, and the Hub Programme Manager, Jen Wood, facilitated a Q & A with the audience following presentations. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://northfutures.org/ |
| Description | North East Combined Authority (NECA) Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Workshop with NECA as part of the development of the North East Local Growth Plan, particularly regarding economic opportunities in life sciences and data/computing. Members of the hub participated in the workshop. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| Description | North East Life Sciences (National World) 21st March 2024 (Newcastle) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Sponsored event with >100 participants from across business, academia, NHS and associated organisations. Hosted a panel discussion focussing on "Skills for the future" Chaired by WP5 lead and included WP4 lead in the panel. NF co-director participated in the panel discussion on "Digital Health and Health Technologies" |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.nationalworldevents.com/nels-2024/ |
| Description | Northern Health Sciences Alliance Annual General Meeting 2024 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Principal Investigator Abigail Durrant and Co-Investigator Bernard Corfe were invited to sit on a panel and present a position paper on the topic of 'A SuperCluster in Action: Opportunities of scale and the scale of the opportunity; Benefits and experience of collaborative working under an NHSA banner'. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.thenhsa.co.uk/news/ |
| Description | Our NHS is in crisis: what next? |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Lord Darzi's recent review has exposed critical issues within the NHS in England. Our health service is facing serious challenges, including: * Underfunding: Insufficient funding and poor distribution of resources. * Low Productivity: Despite increased staff, productivity remains a concern. * Long Waiting Lists: Mental health, hospital appointments, and cancer care waiting times are longer than ever. * Poor Access: Vulnerable groups struggle to get the care they need. * Health Inequalities: Disparities in care access and outcomes for ethnic minorities. * Poor Patient Rights: Limited awareness of patients' choices and rights * Sustainability: Single use plastic, crumbling infrastructure, lack of integrated supply chain are all challenges. Join experts, healthcare professionals, and advocates to address these pressing issues, explore potential solutions, and discuss what the future holds for the NHS. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flnkd.in%2FeYnVyBqn&data=05%7C02%7C... |
| Description | Presentation to Gateshead Digital Inclusion Group |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | In Autumn 2023 PI Abigail Durrant presented the NortHFutures Hub Programme to a diverse group of regional stakeholders in Digital Inclusion (including Connected Voice), to foster engagement with community groups and lay / citizen representatives and from the voluntary community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector; |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://connectedvoice.org.uk/ |
| Description | Presentation to North East and North Cumbria (NENC) Integrated Care Board (ICB) Digital Strategy Meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | NortHFutures Hub PI, Abigail Durrant, presented the hub programme (focusing on the skills and training work) to the NENC ICB Digital Strategy team, in order to support discussion and inform the development of the digital strategy that was in a draft form at time of presentation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://northeastnorthcumbria.nhs.uk/media/5jdnarmg/nenc-ics-digital-strategy-2020_v1-2-3.pdf |
| Description | SYDHH Annual Plenary Event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | An opportunity to hear about the work of the South Yorkshire Digital Health Hub, and network with delegates who are interested in digital health initiatives. We exhibited a poster to highlight the work NortHFutures is undertaking to address regional unmet health and care needs. We also had the opportunity to discuss collaborative opportunities with the SYDHH team. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Tees Valley Combined Authority Innovate UK Action Plan Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | TVCA have committed to the production of a regional Innovation Delivery Plan, which will be centred on the themes as identified in the Innovation Action Plan, i.e., Net Zero, Bio and Digital, within a wider advanced engineering wrap. The intent of the workshop is thus to agree the content of this delivery plan - our chosen approach being an intensive one day workshop. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| Description | VONNE Partnership Forum Presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Introduction to hub programme and call for participation in Research Involvement Advisory Group by VCSE sector. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |