Distinguished Professor Jo Rycroft-Malone OBE, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health and Medicine at Lancaster University, has welcomed a multi-million pound investment in a regional research collaboration to deliver improved services for patients and communities across the North West.
From 1st April 2026, the Applied Research Collaboration 2 North West Coast (ARC2NWC) will support the transformation set out in the government's NHS 10 Year Plan, the Life Sciences Sector Plan and the Government's Health and Growth Missions by tackling some of the region's most pressing health and social care challenges through high-quality applied research. It will also drive effective interventions and models of care into practice at pace.
The organisation will provide research expertise, specialist facilities, a research delivery workforce and support services to front line providers.
ARC2NWC is part of a wider £157 million investment over 5 years in 10 regional Applied Research Collaborations (ARCs) to support the transformation of the health and care system across the UK by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, the research arm of the NHS.
ARCs are collaborative partnerships between universities, NHS trusts, local authorities, Health Innovation Networks, Integrated Care Boards, members of the public and the voluntary sector.
Professor Rycroft-Malone said: "Lancaster University is proud to be part of this regional research collaboration aimed at strengthening partnerships and improving outcomes for people across the North West Coast. Being part of this initiative reflects our ongoing commitment to working collaboratively across sectors to create positive change and ensure that research directly benefits the communities we serve.
"Together with our partners, we are focused on developing evidence-based, practical, innovative solutions that improve lives and drive inclusive growth across the region."
Hosted by NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group (UHL Group), ARC2NWC will provide applied research findings and key evidence to hospitals, GPs and local authorities through projects which address systematic priorities in the local health and social care system.
• It will bring together 80 health and social care providers, NHS commissioners, local authorities, universities, public advisers and third sector representatives from across the North West Coast to address disparities in the health and care of the region's population. All the work will embrace a focus on ways to reduce health and social care inequalities, alongside integrating the contribution of public and practitioner experts throughout the lifecycle of its research and its implementation.
By using this enlarged network of collaboration and research infrastructure, the ARC2NWC goals are to:
• identify, develop and deliver high-quality research on applied health, public health and social care.
• provide greater resource and expertise to support implementation of effective interventions and models of care into practice across the region and country
• provide enhanced health economic expertise to ensure the economic impact of evidence is better understood to support decisions on efficiency and growth
• collaborate with commercial companies to evaluate and implement new NHS treatments and technologies, fostering UK economic growth
• speed up the implementation of research findings through the use of knowledge mobilisation
Detailed plans for the North West Coast region include five key work areas within ARC2NWC: Public Health and Prevention, Workforce and Systems Resilience, Social Care, Long-Term Conditions and Women's Health.
Led by teams consisting of clinicians, public health experts, researchers, commissioners and members of the public, they will be assisted by experts in two cross-cutting themes of Analogue2Digital and Evidence4Impact.
Top academics from universities around the region will advise on use of artificial intelligence and digital tools to improve disease prevention, provide earlier treatment and better coordinate health and social care.
Professor Mark Gabbay, Director of the Applied Research Collaboration 2 North West Coast, and Professor of General Practice at The University of Liverpool, said: "Our delivery model will help support the system-shift from hospital to community, treatment to prevention and analogue to digital. A collaboration which will be at the forefront of tackling health inequalities in these areas across the North West Coast."
The population of the region faces stark health inequalities. Average life expectancy can vary across local authority areas by up to 12 years, and healthy life expectancies vary by over twenty years.
Since their formation in 2019, the ARCs have been instrumental in delivering applied health, public health and social care research that improves outcomes for patients.
Partners who have committed to the ARC2NWC collaboration have already been identifying pressing priorities and areas where quick impact can be made by scaling up research to be syndicated across the region.
ARCs will deliver research which is applicable and scalable across the health and social care sectors across England. The initiative will benefit from expertise based around the region with research knowledge covering all of its counties.
Further funding to aid collaboration and efficiency will be available with up to £75 million will also be available to ARCs to support the Department of Health and Social Care's research priorities. This funding will galvanise rapid, responsive collaboration across the ARCs and other NIHR infrastructure to address emerging health and social care issues over the next 5 years and increase the speed at which research findings are implemented.
Professor Lucy Chappell, Chief Scientific Adviser to the Department of Health and Social Care and CEO of the NIHR, said: "This new funding shows the NIHR's ongoing commitment to developing and delivering high-quality health and care research across the country. The investment will enable the Applied Research Collaborations to continue to bring new treatments and technologies to patients and the public, supporting the aims of the Government's 10 Year Health Plan to champion innovation and power transformation."
The NIHR is also investing £5 million to establish an ARC Network, which will provide national strategic and operational coordination for the designated ARCs. The ARC Network will also act as a focal point for collaboration between the ARCs and facilitate links with national partners.
