HSMC Research and Evaluation
Our research and evaluation aims to improve the design, implementation and effectiveness of policy-making and practice, for the benefit of patients and populations and to reduce inequalities. We produce high quality, timely and impactful evidence, supporting learning and decision-making at local, national and levels.
Our work brings together a wide range of methods delivered by leading, multi-disciplinary researchers. These mixed-methods designs, health economics, rapid evaluation, policy analysis and evidence synthesis.
Collaboration and involvement underpin all of our activities. We have particular expertise in participatory and co-produced research, and work closely with practitioners, managers and system leaders, ensuring that we focus on the things that matter most to people who plan, deliver and use services.
HSMC is home to three internationally recognised research centres:
Our research and evaluation is organised around six key themes, shaped by the strengths of our researchers and the collaborations we have built over time. These themes reflect where we have deep expertise, strong partnerships, and the greatest potential to generate meaningful impact.
Health service management, workforce and delivery
Health service management, workforce and delivery
Work under this theme examines the management of NHS organisations, the dynamics of the health and care workforce, and the design and delivery of services that are safe, effective and equitable.
Our projects span issues such as workplace culture and behaviours, leadership and governance, workforce wellbeing and inclusion, and the impact of policy and organisational change on day-to-day practice. By combining rigorous research with close engagement with practitioners, policymakers and service users, this theme aims to generate practical insights that improve staff experience, strengthen teams and, ultimately, enhance the quality of care.
Current projects include:
Carbon reduced operating theatres: Implementing and evaluating GreenSurg Programme. 2024-2027
Funder: NIHR Programme
Principal Investigator/HSMC Lead: Aneel Bhangu and Iestyn Williams
West Midland NIHR Patient Safety Collaboration. 2023 - 2028
Funder: NIHR Health and Social Care Delivery Research Programme
Principal Investigator/HSMC Lead: Russell Mannion
Innovation and Improvement
Innovation and Improvement
Research in this theme seeks to understand and support how innovations are adopted, spread and embedded into both everyday practice and complex systems of care.
Our work is both grounded in and seeks to advance scientific, theoretical and methodological knowledge, and our team includes leading experts in the fields of implementation science and knowledge mobilisation. We apply our expertise to diverse areas of health and care, and current areas of work include surgical practice, antimicrobial resistance, long-term conditions care, diagnostic testing, vaccine uptake, and maternal, sexual and reproductive health services.
Current projects include:
Digital multi-component intervention to IMPROVE the care of older people living with Diabetes and chronic Kidney Disease: a type 2 hybrid effectiveness-implementation cluster randomised trial in primary care. 2025-2028
Funder: NIHR HSDR programme
Principal Investigator/HSMC Lead: Amy Grove
Genetic risk modelling and implementation of EarLy Surveillance for Autoimmune Diabetes (ELSA). 2025-2029
Funder: Breakthrough T1D Research
Principal Investigator/HSMC Lead: Amy Grove
Evidence synthesis and evaluation
Evidence synthesis and evaluation
Guided by a deep understanding of stakeholders’ needs, we both synthesise and produce new evidence to assess the implementation, impact, cost-effectiveness and scalability of treatments, services and policy changes.
We have expertise across the full range of evaluation approaches, from feasibility studies and early assessments, through to process evaluations and full-scale trials. Our researchers have been at the forefront of methodological developments in rapid research and evaluation, producing high quality and reliable evidence in time-sensitive contexts. HSMC is home to two internationally recognised centres of excellence: the NIHR BRACE Rapid Evaluation Centre and the Birmingham Centre for Evidence and Implementation Science (CEIS).
Current and recent projects include:
The Health Foundation Evidence Review Service. Ongoing
Funder: The Health Foundation
Principal Investigator/HSMC Lead: Iestyn Williams
Exploring what works and why: A Rapid Realist Review of voluntary sector service delivery for suicide prevention. 2026-2027
Funder: NIHR Three Research Schools
Principal Investigator/HSMC Lead: Sarah-Jane Hannah Fenton
Rapid evaluation of the death certification reforms and statutory medical examiner system. 2024-2025
Funder: NIHR
Principal Investigator/HSMC Lead: Jo Ellins
Social care
Social care
Social care academics at HSMC are undertaking research that improves care policy and practice, working alongside policy-makers, practitioners and people with lived experience.
We have specialisms relating to care systems and markets, coproduction and personalisation, and unpaid carers including young carers. We see social care not as a set of tasks, but as a means to promoting a good life for all and are committed to research that helps people to flourish.
Current projects include:
Assure: understanding the impact of CQC assurance on local authorities. 2025-2027
Funder: NIHR
Principal Investigators/HSMC Leads: Catherine Needham and Emily Burn
Supporting the engagement and representation of children in care in research and evaluation through co-produced resources
Funder: NIHR
Principal Investigator/HSMC Lead: Siobhan O'Dwyer
Mental health and wellbeing across the life course
Mental health and wellbeing across the life course
Our research and evaluation in mental health explores the causes and consequences of mental ill-health, prevention and early intervention, lived experiences of help-seeking and support, including at key transitional points across the life course, as well as assessing the effectiveness of policy and service innovations.
We have particular expertise in youth mental health, and strong interests in intersectionality and inequalities. Much of our work is collaborative and co-produced, including partnering with colleagues from across the University as core members of the University’s interdisciplinary Institute for Mental Health. Our research also explores wider aspects of wellbeing, from understanding and supporting healthy sexual behaviours in young people, through to the needs and experiences of unpaid carers.
Current projects include:
Evaluation of the Children and Young People's Mental Health Green Paper Programme. 2023-2026
Funder: NIHR Health and Social Care Delivery Research Programme
Principal Investigator/HSMC Lead: Jo Ellins
Sibing Sexual Behaviour and Abuse International Study 2025-2026
Funder: NOTA
Principal Investigator/HSMC Lead: Sophie King-Hill
Global health systems
Global health systems
Our work is not limited to the UK or Dubai. We collaborate with partners across the globe to share and mobilise knowledge, and to enhance, sustain and expand research skills and capacity.
Driven by a commitment to equity, we aim to address structural imbalances in global research and to contribute to the decolonisation of global health through inclusive, locally led knowledge generation. Using participatory methods, our public health work incorporates user voice at the outset - from the point of intervention design, and uses novel, locally relevant means of promoting public health messages e.g. through theatre and song.
Current projects include:
Reducing Delays in Cancer Care in sub-Saharan Africa. 2024-2029
Funder: NIHR programme
Principal Investigators/HSMC Leads: Richard Lilford and Iestyn Williams
Knowledge and Evidence Services
Knowledge and Evidence ServiceThe HSMC Knowledge & Evidence Service (KES) is a specialist information provider which houses a unique collection of books, journals and electronic material on the non-clinical aspects of health care, including subject areas such as health management, commissioning, leadership, social care and health policy