Since the launch of our areas of research interest (ARIs) at our annual conference in September, the HDRC team has been utilising these in various ways, with the overall goal of bridging evidence and policymaking. These ARIs represent an exciting opportunity for council officers to be involved in research projects that will help build our evidence base and ultimately address the wider determinants of health and health inequalities in our district. 

Working in collaboration with our partners at the University of York Policy Hub, we have begun to identify existing evidence sources to put in the hands of council officers. This exercise has been an interesting exploration of how so often the evidence is out there, but not easily discoverable or accessible. Not every gap in our knowledge requires novel research. To this end, we will soon be expanding access to academic journals for council officers, in partnership with NHS Bradford District Care Trust – read below to find out more. 

We have also been working to raise awareness of our ARIs, with increasing interest from HDRCs across the UK. Bradford are leading the way in spreading this approach across the network. In addition to this, we will be presenting our work to identify and amalgamate our council and community ARIs (see below!) at the upcoming Prevention Research Conference 2026 in Birmingham in March, where we will be representing Bradford Council amongst academics in the Population Health Improvement UK network. 

Community Areas Research Interest (C-ARI)

In parallel to our work with council colleagues HDRC have worked closely with communities across Bradford district to understand what matters to them when it comes to challenges around the wider determinants of health. These conversations have shaped our Community Areas of Research Interest (C-ARIs)—a set of priorities rooted in lived experience. 

The C-ARIs have now been published on our website. Please take a look at them and do get in touch if you are interested in working with us to answer any of the research questions that have been posed.

Community Areas of Research 

Ten Prioritisation workshops 

To develop the C-ARIs we synthesised existing local evidence to draw out themes on the wider determinants of health and created a list of topics. We took these to community settings and carried out a DIAMOND ranking exercise to rank in order of importance, and also to draw out key challenges under each topic. We held ten prioritisation workshops across the district, two in each constituency. We worked closely with our council neighbourhood teams and local Public Contributors (resident representatives) and academic colleagues, to identify and carry out ‘intentional selection’ of micro organisations, underrepresented groups and residents who we rarely hear from, to support this work.  

C-ARI Academic-Led Question Generating Session  

In November 2025, Bradford HDRC hosted a Question Generating Session designed to shape the future of our research priorities. This collaborative event brought together over 40 participants including 10 community groups and residents who had previously participated in our community priority workshops. The aim of the session was to co-produce C-ARI questions that reflect the real needs and interests of Bradford’s communities. During the session, we shared insights gathered from earlier workshops and worked together to generate key questions under eight thematic areas. 

The session was led by our academic researcher Dr Adam Formby from the University of York, alongside Shabana Din, our HDRC Co-Production Lead, and Fiona Phillips, HDRC Public Health Consultant. Each table had a dedicated facilitator to guide discussions and help transform ideas into actionable research questions. 

Thanks to this collaborative effort, the questions have now been published—marking an important step in ensuring that Bradford HDRC’s research agenda is community-driven and impactful. We have already received regional and national interest our C-ARI work and look forward to joined up working with our partners and stakeholders in the near future. 

Research Approval Process (RAP)

Finally, a reminder to all staff in the Department of Adult Social Care, Health, and Housing that the HDRC have launched a Research Approval Process (RAP) that can be used by council officers to guide whether a research project requires any mitigations to protect service users and council officers. The RAP requires those leading research projects, whether these be council officers or external academics, to complete assessment forms that ask questions spanning data sharing, access to vulnerable service users, and the possibility of costing council staff time in research bids. For more information on this process, and to access the forms required for this, please scroll down to the bottom of the Research page on our HDRC website here https://www.bradford.gov.uk/health/bradford-health-determinants-research-collaboration/hdrc-research/. 

Dr Ellen Flint, HDRC Director  

Our Latest Research: How Supported Housing Can Improve Health and Wellbeing

We’re excited to share findings from our recent rapid review, published in Public Health in Practice, exploring the role of supported housing in England and its impact on health and wellbeing. 

What we set out to do Supported housing is a lifeline for people with complex needs, yet its health benefits have often been unclear. Our goal was to examine the evidence and identify what works—and what needs to change—to make supported housing a true public health asset. 

What we found After reviewing 45 studies, we uncovered six key insights: 

• Health outcomes vary significantly across different housing models and populations. 

• What counts as a successful outcome depends on who is being supported and the housing model. 

• Quality of life is shaped by governance and support delivery, not just the housing itself. 

• The environment matters—physical, social, and community factors are critical for rehabilitation and wellbeing. 

• Autonomy is essential for positive experiences, life progression, and health outcomes. 

• Relationships and trust are as important as bricks and mortar. 

Our recommendations for local government With new legislation requiring local authorities to license and oversee supported housing, our findings are timely. We propose three actions: 

1. Recognise supported housing as a public health intervention—and build partnerships across health, housing, and social care. 

1. Use complexity-informed evaluation—because success looks different for different people. 

1. Improve care quality and quantity—through staff training, clearer roles, and co-produced guidelines for “good support.” 

Why this matters Supported housing isn’t just about providing shelter—it’s about dignity, autonomy, and better health. By acting now, local authorities can transform supported housing into a cornerstone of community wellbeing. 

Read the full article:  Rapid review: Three ways local government could improve inequality, public health and wellbeing outcomes in supported housing in England - ScienceDirect

Since joining the HDRC as an embedded researcher in October, Dr Hollie Henderson has been exploring opportunities with the council to link early childhood education and care data for the Born in Bradford cohorts. These initial conversations aim to facilitate future research into the factors influencing early child development, as well as equitable access to early childhood education and care across the district. Hollie is also collaborating with researchers at the University of York on a mixed-methods study to investigate how the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) is implemented in Bradford.

The ASQ is a screening tool used routinely across England at age 2 to monitor a child's progress in areas such as communication and social-emotional skills. Coproduced with the Bradford Health Visiting Service, this study investigates whether the ASQ is an acceptable and equitable tool for understanding early child development in Bradford. The goal is to develop locally relevant, evidence-based recommendations that ensure child development is captured accurately and fairly for every child in the city. 

An award winning project by Dr Kelli Kennedy 

Dr Kelli Kennedy, a HDRC embedded researcher, has won the Shared Green Societies Research Award for her work on a recent project. 

The awards are presented under the Shared Green Societies Forum, and recognise outstanding research by early career and PhD researchers from the Social Sciences and Humanities that supports Europe’s green transition by strengthening participation, knowledge exchange, and inclusive policymaking. 

The first award stream, Supporting Citizen and Professional Participation, was judged by Sarah Seus (Fraunhofer ISI) and Sarah Royston (Anglia Ruskin University). The winner was Kelli Kennedy (University of York) for her work Co-Producing Bradford’s Just Transition: Community Climate Evidence. 

“Kelli Kennedy presented work using a wide range of citizen engagement methods, including training local residents, listening events, and ensuring that policy outputs reached decision-makers. From her application, it is clear that she reflects critically on her own role and responsibility in connecting academic research with real-world needs,” Sarah Seus explains. 

Kelli attended the Shared Green Societies Forum in Brussels last month to collect her award.