Projects advancing Areas of Research Interest awarded Participation Funding

Project 1

From ARI Questions to Lasting Connections: Building Research–Policy Relationships through Areas of Research Interest

Liverpool John Moores University, project lead Emily Walker-Williams

Working through the North West Policy Partnership (NWPP), this project approaches ARIs as opportunities to begin conversations and develop ongoing relationships between academia and policy, not simply as questions requiring written submissions. The project will deliver and evaluate regional workshops on recently published government Areas of Research Interest, bringing together national and local policymakers with researchers and where appropriate industry, practitioner and community partners.

Policymakers will explain the context behind their ARIs, the priorities and evidence gaps they are seeking to address, and how evidence can be presented in a useful and accessible way. Facilitated activities will help researchers identify relevant existing evidence, connect complementary expertise across institutions and disciplines, and develop targeted responses to ARI questions.

The project builds on ARI and evidence-response workshops previously delivered by Liverpool John Moores. Learning from the work will be shared through a practical case study and reusable resources, including an adaptable workshop agenda, facilitation guidance, an ARI response template and recommendations for involving policymakers and other evidence users.

This project will help academics understand policymakers’ priorities and evidence gaps so they can develop targeted and usable responses. For government departments, it will provide access to a broader range of regional expertise, evidence and perspectives.

Emily Walker-Williams, Impact Officer and Research Policy Engagement Framework Lead, Liverpool John Moores University

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Project 2

Researching Together for Impact

Led jointly by NIHR Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC) Newcastle and Fuse: The Centre for Translational Research in Public Health.

This project supports the development of collaborative research ideas created through the ‘Researching Together for Impact’ workshop which aimed to address Newcastle’s public health priorities.

Jointly delivered by NIHR HDRC Newcastle and Fuse, the workshop brought together researchers, public health practitioners, policy colleagues, local authority staff and other partners to explore Newcastle City Council’s Public Health Areas of Research Interest (ARIs) and identify opportunities for collaborative research that can help inform policy, improve services and reduce health inequalities.

Building on the partnerships and ideas developed through the workshop, funding will be offered to help participants take the next steps towards co-produced research that addresses locally identified public health priorities and generates meaningful impact.

Developing collaborative research takes time, resources and the opportunity to bring together different perspectives. The funding will enable our partners to take promising ideas further, strengthening relationships, exploring new areas for research and progressing projects that respond to Newcastle’s public health priorities.

Professor Sheena Ramsay, Director of Fuse, the Centre for Translational Research in Public Health, and Professor of Public Health & Epidemiology at Newcastle University

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Project 3

ARI in the Psychology Lab: Co-producing Evidence Responses on Early Years Education

Liverpool Hope, project lead Dr Tobiasz Trawinski.

Government departments publish lists of questions they need research evidence to answer. Researchers tend to answer them the way they write journal articles, which is not always what policymakers need. The answers improve when both sides work on them together.

In the first week of December 2026, Liverpool Hope University will host a one-day workshop. It brings analysts from the Department for Education and Ofsted together with Liverpool City Council, local teachers, academics and charity partners. They will work on three published questions: how to identify children’s additional needs early, how to raise attainment for disadvantaged children, and how to help parents engage with early education.

In the morning, participants read while an eye-tracker records their eye movements, then compare their own reading with recordings from children, including a child learning English as an additional language and a child with reading difficulties. In the afternoon, mixed groups write evidence responses, which go to government within two weeks. In the early evening, local families join a public session called Watch Yourself Read, run with a local reading charity.

This funding allows us to bring civil servants to Liverpool Hope University to work directly with local teachers, council officers and families. It brings together those asking the evidence questions with those who have the knowledge and experience to answer them.

Dr Tobiasz Trawinski, Senior Lecturer in Cognitive Psychology at Liverpool Hope University