Researchers from across the University of Birmingham and its BHP partners are leading projects to break down health inequalities, removing avoidable, unfair and systematic differences in health and wellbeing between different groups of people. Examples of current and completed research projects include: the impact of ethic diversity on people’s wellbeing and health; understanding of legal and mental capacity in the everyday lives of people with intellectual disabilities; and reforming abortion law. 

An international initiative, STANDING Together – led by BHP founder-members University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Birmingham – has released new standards ensuring that medical artificial intelligence (AI) systems are developed with appropriately representative health datasets. The recommendations ensure that the full diversity of people that AI systems will be used for, is represented in health datasets. This is imperative as AI systems are less likely to work well for people who aren’t properly represented in datasets – and may even be harmful. People who are in minority groups are particularly likely to be under-represented in datasets.

The Mental Health Mission Midlands Translational Centre (MHMTC) aims to accelerate mental health research capacity by developing digital registries, building on regional leadership and facilities, and supporting the development of new industrial partnerships. The Centre has an initial clinical focus on new precision interventions for early psychosis (EP) and treatment resistant depression (TRD).

NIHR Patient Safety Research Collaborations (PSRCs) are partnerships between universities and NHS trusts that support patient safety research. University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust hosts the NIHR Midlands Patient Safety Research Collaboration which is focused on developing and embedding effective patient safety practices across emergency acute care, and maternal health care. 

The NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) West Midlands is a five-year initiative (2019-2024) with a mission to create lasting and effective partnerships across health and social care organisations, and universities in order to improve care services across the West Midlands. Its research is carried out across four substantive themes: Long-term conditions; Acute care interfaces; Integrated care in youth mental health; Maternity services, and four cross-cutting themes that underpin this research: Organisational sciences; Research methodology, rapid response and informatics; Public health; Social care.