Research in Action
HDRC Tower Hamlets Research theme 1: Healthy Homes
NIHR Public Health Research - Healthy Homes resubmission
In December 2024, all TH HDRC partners led by London Metropolitan University and put in a submission to the NIHR Public Health Research: Heathy Homes funding call. We were unsuccessful but were given positive and constructive feedback. We have been working hard to adapt the proposal for resubmission, and we now have more insight and connections from attending the Tower Hamlets Housing Areas of Interest Workshop earlier this year. The project will look at mitigating housing overcrowding for children and families with autism through the lens of health inequalities.
After extensive collaboration and consultative work across the HDRC partnership, with local stakeholders, the Tower Hamlets community and staff, we have now honed our research priorities for housing - our first HDRC thematic area.
We are aiming to look at:
- research around overcrowding, to establish whether there are any step-changes in health impacts at particular levels of overcrowding, or any differences in the health effects of overcrowding for different groups of people
- community insight research with residents to understand some of the key causes of housing complaints and work with residents to ‘move from complaints to coproduction’ (i.e. seek solutions that would address and reduce the volume of complaints in key areas)
- a research project looking at what works to support residents to take early action on damp and mould.
This process has been in equal parts challenging and rewarding, and we have learned lots in the process. We look forward to updating you as the projects progress.
If you would like to hear more, please email Isobel Braithwaite.
Tackling Serious Violence
Dr James Alexander from London Metropolitan University is putting a cross-council proposal together for the NIHR Public Health Research funding stream to tackle serious violence by proposing an evaluation of local approaches to the Serious Violence Duty. James has previous experience evaluating three local authority youth safety projects, including a VRU parents empowering project.
If you would like to hear more, please email Catherine DeLacy.
Other projects
A research team led by Dr Eirini Meimaridou at London Metropolitan University has been brought together in Tower Hamlets to look at diabetes prevention in younger school-aged children by using STEM activities in school-settings. So far, the team has been invited to the Child Healthy Weight Summit where we made more key connections, and we have presented at a TH:IS Evidence session. We were honoured to have Phoebe Kalungi from Public Health come and speak about the programme at our recent research days at the university and Phoebe kindly stayed and networked with staff and PhD students. Along with an NHS-led piece of research that’s coming together concurrently, we’re looking forward to advancing this project with the HDRC.
If you would like to hear more, please email Catherine DeLacy who will put you in touch with Eirini.
Queen Mary University of London-led evaluation was part of Tower Hamlets HDRC’s work to test and strengthen data systems. It investigated the impact of Universal Free School Meals on primary school attendance and educational attainment in four London boroughs. It found some positive effects on children’s reading and maths, though only in the longer term.
For more information, please read the summary.
Dr Stephen Hills at London Metropolitan University has been invited to advise on the evaluation and monitoring of the Sport England-funded place-based physical activity programme. We’d like to thank Matt Quin for the opportunity, and we look forward to seeing this work progress.