UKPRP Community of Practice

The Community of Practice (CoP) is a forum for researchers and colleagues working in UKPRP funded Networks and Consortia. The aim of the CoP is to co-develop practice, current thinking, and supporting resources in areas of shared interest to Networks and Consortia in order to enhance the effectiveness and societal impact of both UKPRP-funded and wider prevention research. The CoP will provide a critical friend environment that supports learning to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the existing groups, shares expertise and experiences with new Networks and Consortia, and disseminates good practice with the wider prevention research community. The specific objectives of the CoP are to:

- Establish a communication network across all UKPRP Networks and Consortia to facilitate shared learning;
- Set up a series of topic focused Development Themes that support in-depth critical friend conversations on key areas of shared interest;
- Through these forums, develop a body of knowledge, methods and tools that can be shared to enhance the effectiveness and societal impact of UKPRP-funded and other prevention research;
- Share these outputs widely to support the development of effective research collaborations for upstream prevention of NCDs; and,
- Raise the profile of the UKPRP in the course of the above.

The CoP will deliver benefits for the Network and Consortia teams, the funders and, ultimately, population health and wellbeing, including: (i) developing strong and sustainable relationships between the eight Networks and Consortia, (ii) sharing good practice in management and impact to inform existing and new Network and Consortium development, whilst avoiding duplication, (iii) enabling faster advance in methods development, and (iv) comparing and contrasting different approaches to, for example, co-production, public engagement, and impact to identify best-buy combinations of activity for influencing upstream prevention of NCDs.

Over 3 years the CoP will build a body of knowledge, publications, toolkits and other materials to collate and share our significant expertise and experience with a wider audience across the UK and internationally. The use of existing Networks and Consortia as case studies will give significant credibility to the outputs of the UKPRP CoP. We will showcase this work through a variety of channels including through a flagship symposium in year 3 of the CoP, and these activities will significantly raise the profile of the UKPRP. All of our outputs will be open access so that the widest possible research, policy and practice audience can access and share in our learning. This will support the ongoing development of strong prevention research beyond the initial 3 year funding period for the CoP, creating the foundations of a legacy for the work of UKPRP funded Networks and Consortia. We will also work with new Networks and Consortia launching in 2021 to explore how to make the CoP sustainable beyond December 2023.

This grant is funded by the UK Prevention Research Partnership (UKPRP) which is administered by the Medical Research Council on behalf of the UKPRP's 12 funding partners: British Heart Foundation; Cancer Research UK; Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates; Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council; Economic and Social Research Council; Health and Social Care Research and Development Division, Welsh Government; Health and Social Care Public Health Agency, Northern Ireland; Medical Research Council; Natural Environment Research Council; National Institute for Health Research; The Health Foundation; The Wellcome Trust.

This grant is awarded to The University of Stirling which is administering the award on behalf of all the UKPRP Consortia and Networks.

Five Development Themes will launch at the outset of the CoP.

1. UKPRP Networks
Aim: to develop the Network's capabilities by exchanging knowledge and developing best practice, and to explore solutions to common network issues (e.g. building cross-sector research capacity).
Outputs: to include best practice guidelines, case studies, and identification of potential projects for Networks to progress based on initial discussion around shared priorities.

2. Consortium and Network Management
Aim: to share learning around the formation, implementation and operation of effective multi-sector collaborative groups.
Outputs: to include a toolkit for and guidance on the management of large-scale collaborative projects, including evaluation.

3. Impact-Oriented Research
Aim: to co-develop a shared understanding of approaches to impact-oriented prevention research, and to critically assess different approaches to impact.
Outputs: to include an impact report comparing approaches across the Networks and Consortia and an understanding of how the DT has helped strengthen impact strategies.

4. Commercial Sector Interactions
Aim: to share, compare and reflect on Network and Consortia approaches to managing interactions with and interference by commercial sector organisations.
Outputs: to include guidance on issues and approaches for the management of commercial interactions, and/or attempted interference with the conduct or impact of prevention research.

5. Meta-Research
Aim: to collect, review and evaluate the approaches UKPRP projects are taking to reflect on and continually improve their research, stakeholder engagement, knowledge exchange and impact realisation processes and practices, and to seek to enhance the outcomes of our research by sharing know-how across the portfolio of participating UKPRP projects.
Outputs: to include a 'playbook' as a knowledge base for future researchers and research funders to use when developing research calls and bids.