Two years have passed since the official launch of the Centre of Health and Development and CHAD is changing.
In August of this year CHAD was adopted and supported as a mainstream Staffordshire University research centre, whilst continuing to maintain and develop links with external partners to operate as a collaborative research centre.
In the past three months CHAD has been approved as a University Research Centre, one of just four across the University and our Academic Director Chris Gidlow has been awarded the title of Professor of Applied Health Sciences.
We are also delighted that we have had a journal article published in the Journal of Integrated Care, based on the City centre rough sleeping and street activity in Stoke-on-Trent research. The title of the paper is ‘Having a voice: a collaborative research project exploring the challenges and assets of people experiencing homelessness’. Sitting within our ‘health inclusion’ theme, the research was funded by Voices of Stoke and was a collaboration between CHAD, Voices and Expert Citizens. Read more
Dr Nigel Thomas, the Dean of the School of Life Sciences and Education, talks about the University, health and social inequalities and working with CHAD.
So as we look to the future, we thought this would also be a good time to look back on the story so far….
CHAD was established as an innovative partnership between Stoke-on-Trent City Council, Staffordshire County Council and Staffordshire University, to undertake translational, applied research to improve the health and wellbeing of the local population and contribute to the reduction of social and health inequalities. Initial funding for CHAD was made available from July 2015 to August 2018.
The Launch
The CHAD launch took place on September 19th 2016 listen to the launch interview with the keynote speaker, Professor Sir Michael Marmot who chaired the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health (2005-8). The British Government appointed him to conduct a review of social determinants and health inequalities, the resulting Marmot Review and its recommendations are now being implemented in three-quarters of local authorities in England. Watch the video of the launch below.
The Four Research Themes
The Healthy Communities and Place theme focuses on the physical and social characteristics of communities and the extent to which they enable and promote health and wellbeing. Read more….
The Healthy Start theme focuses on maternal and child health. This includes the health and wellbeing of women who are pregnant and/or have young children, the children themselves, and their significant others. Read more….
The Health Inclusion theme focuses on the health and wellbeing of people in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent who may experience complex and multiple needs and/or who may have difficulty accessing universal services.Read more….
The Healthy Living theme focuses on the prevention of ill health and promotion of positive health and wellbeing. Read more….
Award Winning CHAD
CHAD won the award for ‘high impact research’ at the 2017 Staffordshire Celebrating Staff Success ceremony. Recognising and rewarding the CHAD team for working so hard to achieve their vision of delivering ‘high quality, locally relevant and internationally excellent translation research to reduce health and social inequalities.
CHAD Seminar Series
CHAD ran a series of very successful, well attended Seminars on a wide range of topics including:
- Thinking Active
- Evaluation of the North Staffordshire Cancer Lifestyle Project
- Food Poverty and Childhood Obesity
- Resourceful Ageing: Creativity and Community in Later Life
- Natural Environment and Health
- Social Value and Participatory Research Methods
- Homelessness in Stoke-on-Trent – working towards inclusion, recovery and sustainability
- Research Semimar on Multi-morbidity
- Mental Health
- Healthy Ageing
CHAD Guest Lectures
Professor Aliko Ahmed
Professor Aliko Ahmed, Director of Public Health England for the East of England and founding member of CHAD. The lecture entitled ‘Global Health Interdependencies – An asset based approach to sustainable health in Africa‘, took place at the Leek Road Campus, Stoke, on on Thursday 2nd March 2017. Professor Ahmed, talked of the challenges we face as an interdependent world, the potential solutions and what can be achieved in the future, The lecture was followed by a lively question and answer session. Read more….
Duncan Selbie
Duncan Selbie has been the CEO of Public Health England (PHE) since it’s formation in 2013. The lecture entitled ‘Health is Wealth’ took place at Stafforshire University Leek Road Campus on Thursday 9th November 2017, following on from the CHAD Health and Social Inequalities Symposium. Duncan Selbie provided a unique insight into public health thinking at the highest level nationally and it was followed by a lively question and answer session. Read more….
The BIG Community Conversation
BCC 2017
The Centre for Health and Development (CHAD) joined with 1,000 Lives and other partners to host a special event entitled ‘The BIG Community Conversation’. Billed as ‘a day of sharing stories and a celebration of making a difference in our communities’, the event took place during Volunteers Week, on the 7th June 2017. Read more….
BCC 2018
The BIG Community Conversation 2018 took place on Wednesday 9th May, 2018 and was once again developed in partnership with Staffordshire University’s Creative Communities Unit and the 1,000 Lives Community Network. Read more….
CHAD Health and Social Inequalities Symposium
The CHAD Health and Social Inequalities Symposium took place at Staffordhire University Leek Road Campus on Thursday 9th November 2017. It was a resounding success, with over 150 delegates attending the Symposium.
The purpose of the symposium was to showcase translational research on health and social inequalities from a range of academic disciplines across the University and our wider region engaging participants from academia, higher and further education, health and social care, and the community and voluntary sector. Read more….
CHAD Annual Reports
CHAD Annual Report 2016-17
CHAD Annual Report 2016-17 is a review and celebration of the work of CHAD for the period 2016 – 2017, which is the first year in which CHAD has been fully operational. Read more….
CHAD Annual Report 2017-18
The CHAD Annual Report 2017-18 reflects the accomplishments of CHADs small but dedicated team in delivering ‘high quality research to reduce health and social inequalities’. Read more….
CHAD Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Events
CHAD also ran a series of successful Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Events. Read more….