Collaborating across the NIHR HRC Network to transform child health
Friday 22 May 2026
Jess McNeill
Earlier this month, we were delighted to lead the inaugural NIHR HRC Network Paediatric Working Group meeting here in Sheffield.
NIHR HealthTech Research Centres (HRCs) are centres of excellence that accelerate the development and adoption of healthcare technologies by bringing together the NHS, academia, and industry. Each centre has a distinct therapeutic focus, strategic objectives, and operational structure that govern day-to-day activities, research projects, and programmes. Of the 14 HRCs in the UK, the NIHR HRC in Paediatrics and Child Health is the only centre solely dedicated to children, young people and families, supporting health innovation throughout the early life course, all the way from birth up to the transition into adult healthcare services.
Supporting cross-HRC collaboration
The NIHR HRC Network, based in Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, acts as a coordinating hub for the HRCs, by providing strategic leadership and supporting effective communication and collaboration between centres. This year, the Network launched cross-HRC working groups focused on strategic areas of health to support collaboration between centres with overlapping themes. Through this initiative, individual HRCs will have more understanding and awareness about how other centres operate and how we can better work together on both a day-to-day and systematic level.
How the NIHR HRC Network supports the 14 HRCs across the UK.
NIHR HRC Network Paediatric Working Group
A number of HRCs support research themes and projects in child health and so the NIHR HRC Network Paediatric Working Group sets out to bring these centres together. By pooling the world-leading expertise and resources between these HRCs, we can more effectively transform the health and wellbeing of children and young people together.
As the leading centre for this working group, the NIHR HRC in Paediatrics and Child Health team were delighted to host the inaugural meeting in Sheffield earlier this month. It presented an opportunity for team members from HRCs with child health themes and projects to meet in person and learn more about what we all do. It was great to hear about exciting ongoing research projects and plans for future work in paediatric HealthTech innovation.
Impact and outcomes
We are invested in ensuring this collaboration leaves the meeting room and translates into meaningful change and impact for children and young people. The aims and structure of the day were based on feedback we received from the other HRCs about their needs, the challenges they face, and what they would like to achieve in the context of child health innovation. Together, we spent the day further mapping out these challenges and identifying opportunities for collaboration through structured discussions and networking, culminating in a more refined scope and tangible goals that we can work towards.
How the NIHR HRC Network Paediatric Working Group are setting and working towards defined goals.
“The conversation centred on where we are right now, the landscape, the gaps and the real opportunities in child health technology. We got into paediatric innovation initiatives, funding and what it would actually take to improve child health at a national level. Two things kept coming up: the need for proper cross-institutional collaboration and building a shared data environment we can all work from.
What gives this urgency is the trajectory we’re on as child health in the UK has declined significantly and that has to change how we talk about the future. We need to shift the narrative, not just the systems.”
Edwina Ogbu
Cross-HRC Coordination Manager, NIHR HRC Network
With the invaluable support of the NIHR HRC Network, we look forward to leading this working group and working alongside our partner HRCs to improve the health and care of children and young people in the UK.
To find out more about the NIHR HRC Network, please visit their website using the link below.