Cardiff University research into women's health, mental health, and tackling cancer are to be among the key areas of research to share £39.5m of funding from Health and Care Research Wales over the next five years.
Health and Care Research Wales has announced Research Development Infrastructure funding for 17 research centres across Wales, including five new organisations. The Wales Applied Virology Unit, Centre for Social Care and Artificial Intelligence Learning, Women's Health Research Wales and Centre for Vision Services Research will all be based at Cardiff University, and the National Centre for Suicide and Self-Harm Prevention will be based at Swansea University.
The investment includes funding for flagship centres such as the Wales Cancer Research Centre, the National Centre for Mental Health, and Children's Social Care Research and Development Centre Partnership and will boost academic capability and the amount of high-quality research taking place in Wales.
The funding has been awarded across two categories - sustainability awards, for currently funded groups to maintain effective models of practice and support a trajectory towards self-sustainability, and catalytic awards, to boost capacity and capability in areas of health and care need and emerging Welsh research strength.
Research has a critical role to play in helping us to achieve our aim of A Healthier Wales. This is an important investment in new and exciting areas of research, including women's health; preventing suicide and self-harm and AI - I hope it provides real evidence over the next five years, which will help shape services and care for people across Wales.
The full list of Cardiff University-based centres that will receive funding are:
Sustainability funding
- National Centre for Mental Health (£2,999,894)
- Wales Cancer Research Centre (£4,866,172)
- Wales Centre for Primary and Emergency Care Research (£2,996,483)
- Wales Cancer Biobank (£2,363,320)
- Children's Social Care Research and Development Centre Partnership (CASCADE-Partnership) (£2,999,636)
- Centre for the Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer) (£2,886,936)
- Advanced NeuroTherapies Centre (£2,856,309)
- Wales Kidney Research Unit (£2,984,527)
- Centre for Trials Research (£4,742, 424)
Catalytic funding
- Wales Applied Virology Unit (£3,000,000)
- Centre for Social Care and Artificial intelligence LEarning (£1,815,416)
- Women's Health Research Wales (£3,013,936)
- Centre for Vision Services Research (£1,746,729)
Those based outside of Cardiff University are:
Sustainability funding
- Secure Anonymised Information Linkage Databank (SAIL) (£4,551,338)
- Health and Care Economics Cymru (£1,865,815)
- National Cardiovascular Research Network (£2,073,161)
Catalytic funding
- National Centre for Suicide and Self-harm Prevention (£2,085,939)
Michael Bowdery, Joint Interim Director at Health and Care Research Wales and Head of Programmes, Research and Development Division at Welsh Government, said: "This announcement represents a significant investment in our funded infrastructure in Wales over the next five years, and reflects our ambition to advance research capability aligned with unmet health and social need in key policy areas.
"Our approach to providing this funding is based on two criteria – firstly, where there is a clear and compelling research and evidence need in the area for Welsh Government, the NHS and social care system in Wales; and secondly, where there is demonstrably strong or emerging research capacity and capability in the area.
"These centres embody the principle of research having the power to make a difference to people's health and wellbeing, and we are pleased to be able to support their activity in this field."
Roger Whitaker, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research, Innovation, and Enterprise said: "We are delighted to welcome this significant investment into the future of our world-leading research from Health and Care Research Wales. It's a testament to the outstanding work of our Cardiff research community and the transformative potential of our projects."
