Phire – Public Health Innovation & Research in Europe

Appendix 10 - PHIRE Supplemental Information – Ireland

PHIRE Supplemental Information – Ireland

1. 
   Department of Health (DoH)
   

There are significant policy-supportive research areas of child health and well-being, health of the traveller community, and practice and standards in health care provision. The DOH provides core funding to the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) to maintain the HIPE database of in-patient admissions to Irish hospitals, and to the Children’s Research Centre at TCD.

2. 
   Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA)
   

The Department of Children and Youth Affairs, (formerly with the DOH), has lead responsibility for the implementation of a national children’s research programme, which aims to facilitate the achievement of a better understanding of how children grow up in Ireland, including both their individual and shared needs. The overall programme comprises capacity building, the development of a data and research infrastructure around children’s lives and a commissioned research programme. Within each of these areas, public health is a core focus. The elements of the Research Programme are

• 
  A funded Research Programme, which includes Growing Up in Ireland – the National Longitudinal Study of Children;
  
• 
  A Research Capacity Building Programme, which includes Research Placement and Research Scholarship Programmes; and a contribution to the funding of a Structured PhD Programme in Child and Youth Research in Trinity College Dublin
  
• 
  A Research Infrastructure and Dissemination Programme, which includes the development of a National Set of Child Well-Being Indicators, the production of a biennial State of the Nation’s Children Report based on the indicator set, the development of a National Data and Research Strategy on Children’s Lives and other initiatives
  

3. 
   Health Research Board
   

The HRB extramural research programme is supported primarily through a core grant from the DOH; others smaller sources of support include the Health Services Executive, Department of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Irish Aid and so on.

1. 
   HRB capacity building in the public health space (on-going support)
   

PhD Scholars Programme in Health Services Research

The overall purpose of this scheme is to improve the quality of PhD training in health research by facilitating a broader education for young researchers, and enhancing co-operation between post-graduate students in different research groups. It also encourages institutions to establish a critical mass of students in a themed area by funding four-year PhD training programmes. Institutions in Northern Ireland are eligible to apply as co-applicants or partners.

A total of six training sites have been established under this scheme covering a broad spectrum of health research from applied biomedical to health services research. Each programme supports four cohorts of four to eight postgraduate scholars working in related research areas for four years. Host institutions must provide a structured training programme in the first year for each scholar cohort; including access for the scholars to specialist and generic skills training; as well as choice of laboratory rotations in different groups. The PhD Scholars programme in Health Services Research has been singled out for continued funding beyond the original 7 year programme.
Clinician Scientist Awards

The HRB’s Clinician Scientist awards are targeted at individuals with a strong, internationally competitive track record in research. An applicant must be either a medical consultant in the Irish health service or a senior clinician in a health-related discipline that is qualified to hold a post in the Irish health service. The objective of the scheme is to create research leaders in the health services, capable of driving forward a health research agenda in the HSE and in providing mentorship to postgraduate and post-doctoral medical and other health professionals. The scheme has, to date, released outstanding researchers from some or all of their service commitments for a period of five years, to conduct world-class research. There are currently seven clinicians funded under this scheme with an average investment of €1.6M per award. The scheme is currently being reviewed and a modified scheme will be launched in 2011.

Interdisciplinary Capacity Enhancement (ICE) Awards

This new postdoctoral fellowship scheme, launched by the HRB in 2011, is aimed at building and attracting capacity into population health and health services research and, through a team-based approach, will enable the development of partnerships between researchers, practitioners and decision makers in policy and health service delivery. The ICE Awards initiative is a strategic initiative to address gaps in capacity, build on existing investment, strength and capabilities and encourage partnership and collaboration between the population health research and health services research communities and clinical researchers. Applicant teams must be interdisciplinary in nature to ensure that fellows receive appropriate training and mentoring in contextual, methodological and other issues related to their work and they develop skills and competencies required for successful interdisciplinary and trans-sectoral research in population health and health services research.

2. 
   Fellowships relevant to the public health space
   

Health Professional Fellowships

The HRB has, in recent years rationalized a number of its fellowships into the Health Professional Fellowships. This encompasses the different health professions (medicine, nursing and the allied health professionals.) Approximately 10 to 15 new awards are made annually through the Health Professional Fellowship scheme and many of these are for research relevant to public health.

Cancer Prevention Fellowships

This Fellowship programme aims to encourage successful applicants to pursue careers in cancer prevention on the island of Ireland. The Fellowship equips participants to embark on such careers by giving them the opportunity to obtain a Masters in Public Health (MPH) degree in year one, followed by two years of mentored research in the National Cancer Institute’s distinguished Cancer Prevention Fellowship Programme in Washington DC.

Health Economics Fellowship

This Fellowship programme aims to encourage successful applicants to pursue careers in health economics on the island of Ireland. The duration of the fellowship is four years leading to a PhD degree in health economics. The Fellowship includes ten months of coursework in health economics, cancer prevention and health policy, based mainly in Ireland, followed by two years of mentored research at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Washington DC and a final year of mentored research at an affiliated host institution in Ireland. Two awards have been made in each year in 2008, 2009 and 2010, and 2011.

Cochrane Fellowships and Colloquiums

The aim of the Cochrane Fellowship scheme is to build capacity in conducting systematic reviews in the health and social care field in Ireland by freeing up protected time for applicants to conduct a Cochrane systematic review in any topic of their choice. The Fellowship provides the Fellow with protected time of up to two days per week for up to two years to conduct their review. The award covers systematic review training costs, salary-related costs and research expenses. This scheme has supported over 70 health practitioners to undergo Cochrane training and a further 20 health professionals or scientists to undertake Cochrane Systematic Reviews. The Fellowship scheme is currently being reviewed prior to an expected new call in 2011.

Post-Doctoral Research Fellowships

Post-doctoral research fellowship awards are open to anyone with a PhD in an area relevant to health. The purpose is to enable researchers with a PhD to develop their research careers at an advanced level in Ireland. Each year a number of these awards are in the public health sphere.

HRB Infrastructure Development in the public health space

Health Research Centres

The purpose of these awards is 1) to address priority research needs of the health services in Ireland, 2) to provide capacity bridging higher education and health care to perform large-scale research projects underpinning clinical, health systems and health services research, and 3) to facilitate dissemination of the knowledge base and to increase its impact on health policy and health practice.

The objective of each Health Research Centre (HRC) is to undertake research and dissemination activities that will improve the health and/or care of the population. A HRC is intended to foster collaborative research and critical mass within the relevant research community to underpin translational, clinical, health systems and health services research and to ensure that new knowledge is translated into practice. Funding is available to support research consortia that enhance our ability to address health issues and that are aligned with national/international research and funding priorities. There are currently two HRC awards in Diet and Health and Primary Care. Consideration of further HRC awards is actively being reviewed.

Clinical Research Facilities (CRFs)

The HRB funds three of the seven clinical research facilities (CRFs) on the Island of Ireland, as collaborative initiatives with either the Department of Health or the Wellcome Trust UK. The HRB provides the running costs over a 5 year period, while the DoH or the Wellcome Trust provides the capital. The Dublin St. James and Galway CRFs were launched in 2007, while the Cork CRF was launched in 2008. These key clinical infrastructures aim to build world-class clinical research capability in Ireland to support bench-to-bedside initiatives and improve translation of the results of health research into treatments and techniques that are provably effective in the clinic. The Galway CRF has, as part of its research portfolio, strands in health services research and primary care research.

Methodological Supports

The HRB has committed almost €600k to the provision of methodological support to the broader research community through the Research Methodology Support Centre (CSTAR) which is intended to provide health and social care practitioners and academic colleagues with methodological support to strengthen quality in health services, primary care and clinical research on a national basis, across health service and academic institutions. The aim of the Centre is to strengthen research quality by providing advice, consultancy, training and education in research methodologies (both quantitative and qualitative), study design, project management, analysis, reporting and other support services. The HRB is currently examining a Hub and Spoke model to embed methodological design, statistics and data management in the health research infrastructure in the Republic of Ireland.

3. 
   HRB Support for national health databases (on behalf of Department of Health)
   

1. 
   The Drug-Related Deaths Index (NDRDI) which is a census of drug-related deaths (such as those due to accidental or intentional overdose) and deaths among drug users (such as those due to hepatitis C and HIV) in Ireland. It also records alcohol-related deaths.
   
2. 
   The National Drug Treatment Reporting System (NDTRS), which is an epidemiological database on treated drug and alcohol misuse in Ireland. It was established in 1990 in the Greater Dublin Area and was extended in 1995 to cover all areas of the country.
   
3. 
   The National Intellectual Disability Database (NIDD) and the National Physical and Sensory Disability Database (NPSDD), which collect information on the demographic profile, receipt of, or need for, specialised health services  for people with intellectual disability (NIDD) and physical or sensory disability (NPSDD).
   
4. 
   The National Psychiatric In–Patient Reporting System (NPIRS) and national psychiatric inpatient database in Ireland records data on all admissions to, and discharges from, psychiatric inpatient facilities in Ireland annually.
   

The HRB is also the Irish national focal point for the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA).

1^ Seven EUPHA Sections decided to take part in PHIRE: Public health epidemiology, Food and nutrition, Urban public health, Public mental health, Environment related diseases, Injury prevention & safety promotion, and Chronic diseases.

2^ UK Clinical Research Collaboration. Health Research Classification System. January 2009

http://www.hrcsonline.net/sites/default/files/HRCS_Document.pdf, last accessed April 2012;

RICHE (Research into Child Health in Europe) Taxonomies of Child Health Research. Draft Discussion Document – Version 1 - 6 April 2010. Available at: http://www.childhealthresearch.eu/about-us/inventory-of-research/taxonomy-discussion-paper/view, last assessed in September 2011;

Bauer G, Davies JK, Pelikan J on behalf of the Euhpid Theory Working Group and The Euhpid Consortium. The EUHPID Health Development Model for the classification of public health indicators. Health Promot. Int. (2006) 21 (2): 153-159. doi: 10.1093/heapro/dak002;

Jorm L., Gruszin S., Churches T. A multidimensional classification of public health activity in Australia. http://www.anzhealthpolicy.com/content/pdf/1743-8462-6-9.pdf;

Public Health Classifications Project. http://www.nphp.gov.au/workprog/phi/index.htm;

Public Health Classifications Project - Phase One: Final Report . Report to the National Public Health Partnership. December 2005.

http://www.publichealth.gov.au/pdf/reports_papers/technical%20papers/ph_classifications_report_phase01.pdf;

Public Health Classifications Project – Determinants of Health. Phase Two: Final Report. NSW Department of Health. December 2010.

http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/pubs/2010/pdf/public_health_classifications_project.pdf;

McCarthy M, Harvey G, Conceição C, La Torre G, Gulis G. Comparing public health research priorities in Europe.Health Research Policy and Systems 2009, 7:17.

3^ STEPS report: Public Health Research –Europe’s Future, available at http://www.steps-ph.eu/wp-content/uploads/STEPS_Report.pdf; Country ‘profiles: http://www.steps-ph.eu/country-research-profiles/; Conceição C, McCarthy M. Public health research systems in the European Union. Health Research Policy and Systems 2011, 9:38.

4^ Conceição C, McCarthy M. Public health research systems in the European Union. Health Research Policy and Systems 2011, 9:38.