Cumberland Council is taking a major step forward in tackling some of the most pressing health issues and inequalities affecting local communities.
Cumberland Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC), hosted by Cumberland Council, is calling on individuals, local services, organisations, and professionals to share evidence that could help shape a healthier future for all residents.
NIHR Health Determinants Research Collaborations enable local authorities to become more research-active, embedding a culture of evidence-based decision making.
Cumberland HDRC is particularly interested in evidence relating to financial poverty, housing, employment, mental health, neurodiversity, substance use, obesity, food insecurity, or cared for children.
Evidence can take many forms, including statistics, needs analyses, community mapping, service designs or specifications, project evaluations, or wider research that would help us to understand:
Who experiences these issues and how prevalent they are?
What causes, drives or exacerbates these issues?
What services reduce or improve these issues?
The council encourages anyone with relevant materials to get in touch. The HDRC team is available for a chat and can be contacted via email at hdrc@cumberland.gov.uk. The team can also arrange a visit to chat more about how you support Cumberland’s community with the issues outlined.
You can also post your evidence to: Cumberland Council, Cumbria House, 107-117 Botchergate, Carlisle CA1 1RZ.
Any evidence submitted will be securely stored and all data will be anonymised, and no individuals or organisations will be identifiable in any analysis or reports. Access to the evidence is restricted solely to the HDRC team, and all data handling will comply with GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018, and Cumberland Council’s internal data protection policies.
The findings from this work will be published in various formats, including formal papers submitted to Cumberland Council and the project’s funders NIHR, alongside clear and concise summaries, presentations, and PowerPoints for wider sharing. Where appropriate, the results will also contribute to academic outputs such as conference presentations or published papers, helping to share learning from Cumberland on a national level. These insights will help shape future work to reduce health inequalities and improve outcomes for communities across the region.
This is the first stage of a wider engagement process. In the coming months, the Cumberland HDRC team will also be inviting people to take part in surveys, interviews, and focus groups to explore experiences and ideas in more depth.
For more information or to share evidence, please contact the Cumberland HDRC team at hdrc@cumberland.gov.uk