Please note PHRADA is now part of the NIHR RSS Specialist Centre for Public Health, hosted by Newcastle University and partners

Welcome, we are the PHRADA team and support people applying to the NIHR Public Health Research commissioned calls. We’re here to listen to your research ideas and support you in developing your proposal. As members of NIHR we have access to a range of resources and insight to help you on your journey.

All our team are research advisors and researchers themselves with experience of applying for funding from Research Councils, NIHR, Local Authorities, CCGs and charities. Our role is to act as a critical friend and help you develop the most competitive applications.

Our team members are:

Dr Janine Bestall (PHRADA Co-Lead)
https://medicinehealth.leeds.ac.uk/medicine/staff/128/janine-bestall
j.bestall@leeds.ac.uk

Janine is an experienced health services researcher and public health commissioning manager (population management of patients with long term conditions). Along with the PHRADA role she is also RDS YH Deputy Director and a Senior Research Fellow in Applied Health Research based in Leeds. Her research is focussed on rehabilitation, prehabilitation, patient experience of treatments and decision making in healthcare and trials. She’s been a generic advisor for RDS YH for 7 years. Her specialist expertise is in systematic reviews, qualitative methods and mixed methods research designs.

Dr Erica Cook
https://www.beds.ac.uk/howtoapply/departments/psychology/staff/erica-cook/
Erica.Cook@beds.ac.uk

Erica is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Bedfordshire and NIHR advisor for the Research Design Service (EoE). She is a chartered psychologist with the British Psychological Society (BPS) and a Registered Health Psychologist with the UK Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). Erica’s research is interdisciplinary in nature, focused on the intersection of public health and Health Psychology with a commitment to improving health outcomes for marginalised and socially disadvantaged communities).  Erica has specialist expertise in mixed method research designs with experience of analysing routinely collected secondary data from a range of sources. 

Dr Louise Hayes (PHRADA Co-Lead)
https://www.ncl.ac.uk/medical-sciences/people/profile/louisehayes.html
louise.hayes@newcastle.ac.uk

Louise has a professional background in epidemiology and public health and is based in Newcastle. She has a specific interest in the prevention and management of obesity and chronic disease through lifestyle intervention.  Along with co-leading the PHRADA team she has been an adviser for the RDS NENC for 6 years and is a senior methodological advisor and the hub-lead for North Cumbria. She is a generic advisor for RDS and PHRADA and has specialist expertise in mixed methods research, trials and observational studies.

Professor Gerry Richardson
https://www.york.ac.uk/che/staff/research/gerry-richardson/
gerry.richardson@york.ac.uk

Gerry is a Professor of Health Economics based in York. He has been with the RDS for 10 years and has been involved in research for over 25 years. Gerry’s area of expertise is health economics and cost-effectiveness analysis, though he also has a broad understanding of quantitative techniques. He is currently a panel member on the Research for Patient Benefit (West Midlands) panel, a sub panel member of the Programme Grants for Applied Research and panel member of a Cancer Research UK funding stream.