From exploring the causes and influences that damage our health and wellbeing, to creating technologies to tackle disease, or designing systems to deliver better healthcare, researchers at the University of Bath are leading numerous research projects relevant to health policy.

Through this new IPR Health Policy Fellowship Programme, senior policy and decision-makers working in central and local government or the third sector can apply to connect with University of Bath academics through a bespoke programme of tailored meetings, helping to address health policy challenges via two-way conversations.

The IPR Health Policy Fellowship Programme enables you to meet academics across disciplines at the University. The programme is tailored to suit your policy needs and requirements and can be delivered in a hybrid format, allowing you to participate either in-person or online. It is free to participate in.

In our busy working lives, it can be difficult to take a step back and consider afresh new approaches to policy challenges. The IPR Health Policy Fellowship Programme is a chance to renew and reinvigorate your professional thinking by engaging with Bath academics whose work is helping to inform key areas of health policy.

Areas of expertise in relation to health and wellbeing at the University of Bath include:

• AI and healthcare
• Alzheimer’s, Cancer and Diabetes
• An ageing society
• Diagnostic testing
• Healthcare systems and efficiency
• Healthcare workforce and retention
• Mental health and wellbeing
• Pain treatment
• Public health, including tobacco control, alcohol and obesity
• Sport and policy

The IPR Health Policy Fellowship Programme can help inform new approaches to organisational management and service delivery, enhance professional practice and enable evidence-informed policy formation and delivery.

Engaging with academics can inspire you with new ideas and perspectives to help drive innovation; apply new tools, models and frameworks; and advance the ways in which policy is developed and delivered.

Following your initial Fellowship, our team can facilitate future meetings, networking or collaborations with our academic experts.

In choosing Bath, you will also gain access to our Library resources, which includes online access to journals, and join an active, global policy alumni network with invitations to our exclusive networking events and webinar series.

"The IPR Policy Fellowship Programme is an ideal fit for my professional development at this point in my career.

"It offers the opportunity to engage with the brilliant academics who understand the world of policy making, and who are happy to robustly and constructively challenge my thinking.

"The programme also offers the opportunity to test new ideas, expand my policy ‘toolkit’, and build a broader network of like-minded, enthusiastic policy thinkers."

Charlotte Bright

Deputy Director, Department for Health and Social Care

IPR Policy Fellowship Programme, 2024

If you are successful in your application to be part of the IPR Health Policy Fellowship Programme, you will be matched with academics from the University whose research and expertise aligns with your specific policy challenge(s).

We will take time to talk to you and understand your motivations and interests in taking part and will ask you to distil between six and eight policy questions or areas of interest. We will use this to create a bespoke programme of one-to-one meetings with University of Bath academics in-person on campus, or online via Teams or Zoom.

Not all academics you meet with will be working directly in your area and we may recommend you meet academics on the boundaries of one or more of your questions – for example, they may have addressed the issue in relation to a different policy area, but where examples of key learnings can be drawn.

All academics will be able to engage in a thought-provoking discussion to stimulate your thinking.

What to expect?

To ensure the programme is right for you, the IPR team will arrange an initial discussion to learn more about your areas of interest and your motivations for taking part. We will also ask you to prepare policy questions around which you would like to focus discussions and ask you to prepare a short biography.

Using your questions or area of focus, we will then arrange a series of 40 to 60-minute meetings. We will work with you to arrange a suitable time to visit us, or to connect with our academics remotely.

How to apply

You can apply for the IPR Health Policy Fellowship Programme individually, or as a group (e.g., a team from the same Department or organisation looking to address the same policy questions or challenges).

For an informal conversation about the programme, or to register your interest to take part, please contact Andy Dunne (Policy Engagement Manager) outlining:

• Your current professional role and a short biography
• Your reasons for applying
• Key questions you would like to explore through the programme, or your specific area(s) of interest (between six to eight policy questions)
• Your preference for visiting the University of Bath in-person or arranging meetings online and an indication of your availability.

If you are a member of staff and would like to participate, please email Andy (ajd65@bath.ac.uk) to express your interest.