GAPRUKI project
General Paediatric Incubator
Building research capacity in hospital and community child health
GAPRUKI is part of the General Paediatric Incubator, one of a group of incubators supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) to grow research in priority areas. It covers child health from birth to late adolescence, and aims to make research part of everyday practice.
Led by
Professor Katrina Cathie and Professor Lee Hudson
With a steering group, GAPRUKI, BACCH, and children, young people and families
Why it’s needed
General and community paediatrics sees most children, but has the least research into everyday care.
Child health is changing, but little research looks at everyday care
Many professionals want to do research but haven’t had the training
Research across multidisciplinary teams is rarely joined up
Children, young people and families have little say in what gets researched
It’s hard to start research early in your career
What it will do
The work is split into five work packages.
1
Grow the networks
Expand and diversify the GAPRUKI and BACCH research groups, and build links with other organisations.
2
Find the gaps
Survey professionals across the UK and Ireland, including trainees, and hear from children, young people and carers.
3
Set priorities
Build on GAPRUKI’s 2019 priority-setting exercise and put priority questions forward for NIHR-commissioned research.
4
Build skills
Research training across professional groups, and a mentorship programme.
5
Involve families
A patient and public involvement strategy and toolkit, co-designed with children, young people and carers.
More about the incubator
What NIHR incubators are, how this one works, and who is involved.
What is an NIHR incubator?
The NIHR sets up incubators to build research capacity in areas where it’s needed most. Each one is virtual, run across several sites and organised by discipline.
Incubators build communities of early-career researchers through networking, tailored training and career development support led by experts in the field. Each is shaped to its own area and grows at its own pace.
How this incubator works
- Map the need. Find out where research capacity is lacking, and what gets in the way, across the multidisciplinary team.
- Agree what to do. Gather possible solutions and prioritise them, with children and young people involved.
- Act on it. Build research training and routes into research to grow capacity.
The five work packages in detail
1. Network development. Grow and diversify the GAPRUKI and BACCH research groups, and build allied membership with other organisations.
2. Gap analysis. Survey healthcare professionals in the UK and Ireland, including those in training, and gather the views of children, young people and carers on gaps in research and the barriers to it.
3. Prioritisation. Build on GAPRUKI’s 2019 prioritisation exercise with wider professional and public involvement, and submit research questions in priority areas to the NIHR Health Technology Assessment (HTA) programme for future commissioned calls.
4. Capacity building. Offer training across professional groups, set up a mentorship programme, and share practice with research networks in the UK, Ireland and abroad.
5. Patient and public involvement. Develop a strategy for involving patients and the public, co-design frameworks with children, young people, families and carers, and produce a toolkit for professionals.
Who’s involved
The incubator is led by Professor Katrina Cathie and Professor Lee Hudson, guided by a panel and a steering group.
It is driven by the people it serves: children and young people, parent and carer groups, multidisciplinary teams, and the GAPRUKI and BACCH networks.
Equality, diversity and inclusion
Equality, diversity and inclusion run through the incubator, both in who sits on its panels and in its aims and strategy. The goal is a connected, empowered and equitable research community.
Funding
The NIHR provides funding to help stakeholders identify the barriers to research and suggest solutions. The views expressed are those of the incubator team, not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.
Get involved
The incubator is open to anyone working in child health who wants to do more research, at any stage of their career.
Join the incubator
Email the incubator team to find out about training, mentorship and how to take part.
Join GAPRUKI
The research collaborative for general and adolescent paediatrics in the UK and Ireland.
Join BACCH
The British Association for Community Child Health, the incubator’s partner in community paediatrics.
Latest updates
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Introducing the General Paediatric Incubator
GAPRUKI is part of a new NIHR-supported incubator building research capacity in hospital and community child health.