We’re delighted to announce that Professor Heidi Probst has been formally appointed director of our Health Research Institute (HRI). The HRI brings together academics and professionals who deliver research, innovation and knowledge exchange in health and wellbeing across the lifespan.

Heidi has kindly been speaking to us about her appointment . . .

“I am delighted to be formally taking on the role as director of the Health Research Institute. I have been working with a leadership group for the Health Research Institute and we have identified the vision for the HRI and a set of research and innovation priorities for the next three years. The vision is that the HRI will be a vanguard for health transformation. To achieve this vision the HRI plan includes strategies to facilitate growth of world-leading interdisciplinary research that meets current and emerging local and global health care challenges.

Professor Heidi Probst

“Alongside this our values can be articulated through:

• Patients, people and professionals – our research is driven by an ethos of partnership between patients, the public and professionals, working across health and social care and academia to produce practical interventions and improvement in services.
• Collaboration, communities and commerce – research excellence that is creative and has impact on the health and wellbeing of individuals and groups is best undertaken through purposeful collaboration with relevant communities, including charities and commercial enterprises.

“As part of the HRI plan we have developed a series of working groups to drive forward the HRI priorities.

“I have been particularly delighted to see the enthusiasm and input from staff across all levels of research experience, from novice to experienced researchers supporting these working groups and their commitment to take forward the ambition of the HRI plan.

“The working groups are themed around i) income, ii) staff development and iii) doctoral provision. We are keen to support researchers at all career stages, and we look forward to introducing some new research activities to support staff in the coming year; keep a look out for these being advertised.”

Speaking about Heidi’s success, Dr Lisa Mooney (Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation) said: “Huge congratulations to Heidi. After extensive interviews earlier in the academic year, Heidi was successfully appointed as interim director to establish the foundations of the Health Reseach Institute. In close collaboration with her college and counterpart directors, Heidi has successfully developed the underpinning plans and an exciting programme of work, in what has certainly been a challenging year for us all. In recognition of Heidi’s invaluable contribution and expertise, we wanted to formally invite her to take up the position of director to drive the next stage of her strategic plans. She will join forces with our institute directors for the next three years to be one of four positions that will sit as the cornerstones to our future plans for research and innovation. I am particularly excited to support Heidi and colleagues in realising our ambitions, and also in creating a coherent and rich network of knowledge around our Transforming Lives strategy.”