NIHR HRC in Paediatrics and Child Health 2025 Highlights
Wednesday 29 January 2026
Jess McNeill
After a busy and exciting start to 2026, we’d like to reflect on the last year and share some highlights, milestones, and achievements from the NIHR HRC in Paediatrics and Child Health team.
NIHR HRC PCH Director appointed NIHR Senior Investigator
In March last year, Professor Paul Dimitri, Director of the NIHR HRC PCH, was named as a NIHR Senior Investigator, a highly esteemed award that recognises outstanding leadership and research excellence.
For information about this incredible achievement, please use the link below.
Hosting the 4th Child Health Technology Conference 2025
In June 2025, the NIHR HRC PCH was delighted to host the 4th Child Health Technology (CHT) Conference, which invited healthcare professionals, researchers, industry experts, charities, and importantly young people and families, to share the latest in paediatric health research and innovation.
Over the last four conferences, we’ve welcomed 236 speakers and over 700 delegates from 35 countries, establishing a child health technology community across the world.
For more information about CHT2025, please use the link below.
Encouraging young people to shape the future of paediatric innovation
At the NIHR HRC PCH, one of our core priorities is to ensure the voices of children and young people are at the centre of innovation and to create space for them to not only get involved in our projects, but to strategically work with us to shape the research agenda.
In preparation for writing our Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) Strategy, young people joined us to review our aims together and discuss the best approaches for achieving them.
Towards the end of 2024 and into 2025, Senior Project Manager, Dr Gemma Wheeler, ran a Young Advisors Panel for the National Centre for Child Health Technology’s KidsUP Accelerator.
For more information about some of our favourite previous initiatives that we have worked on with children and young people (CYP), please use the links below.
Awarding funding for innovation in child health in collaboration with our partner organisations
In collaboration with the NIHR and the organisations within the Great Ormond Street Biomedical Research Centre (GOSH BRC) Paediatric Excellence Initiative, we are proud to have awarded funding for pioneering research and innovation in child health.
Accelerating child health technology innovation by supporting innovators on their development journey
In 2025, we thoroughly enjoyed partnering with other leading health and research organisations to support events and initiatives that accelerate the development of health technologies and celebrate innovators who stand out in their field.
We started the year with the annual British Paediatric Sleep Society Fest where we hosted a workshop to evaluate research priorities.
In the summer, we supported the Medipex NHS Innovation Awards and Showcase and hosted an engaging breakout session.
The Cambridge team leading our MBI Theme worked with HealthTech Enterprise to host a Paediatric Health Innovation Sprint.
We welcomed three new team members to the NIHR HRC PCH
We were delighted to have Alastair, Marija, and Emma join our team in 2025 to expand our research management capacity and support child health innovation across England.
ALASTAIR HILL
MARIJA DRINJAKOVIC
EMMA MOFFAT
Keith Pugh, our Head of Operations, raised over £3,000 for Sheffield Children’s Hospital Charity!
Keith ended 2025 by overcoming an enormous feat of endurance – he completed an impressive 24-hour row that raised over £3,000 for Sheffield Children’s Hospital Charity. Congratulations on such an incredible achievement!
Thank you so much to all of our fantastic colleagues and collaborators for a great year.
To stay up to date with the latest news, upcoming events, funding opportunities, and more, sign up to our mailing list using the link below.