The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Health Protection Research Unit (HPRU) in Evaluation and Behavioural Science based at the University of Bristol relaunched on 1 April 2025 with a renewed focus on evaluation.
Formerly the NIHR HPRU in Behavioural Science and Evaluation, the HPRU is now the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Evaluation and Behavioural Science (HPRU EBS), expanding its scope to use insights into health behaviour in the evaluation, design, and implementation of public health interventions.
The NIHR has awarded £5.5 million to the HPRU, to conduct research in partnership with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), that will help protect the public from health threats. The funding is part of NIHR’s £80 million investment from the Department of Health and Social Care to 13 HPRUs across England.
HPRUs conduct studies into:
- Long-term public health threats such as antimicrobial resistance and climate change
- Acute or emerging threats, such as pandemics, and chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear incidents
Bristol’s HPRU EBS is led by:
- Professor Matthew Hickman, Professor in Public Health and Epidemiology in Bristol Medical School: Population Health Sciences (PHS)
- Professors Katy Turner and Charles Beck at the UKHSA.
It will conduct research to help people and organisations improve their own and the public’s health through reducing infectious disease.
Research team
The multidisciplinary team includes researchers from:
- University of Bristol
- University of the West of England (UWE)
- MRC Biostatistics Unit at the University of Cambridge
They provide expertise in behavioural science, qualitative methods, clinical trials, evidence synthesis, epidemiology, statistical, infectious disease and economic modelling.
The team will apply new and advanced research methods, working across five work themes:
- Co-produce
- Optimise
- Vaccinate
- Evaluate
- Eliminate
They will use a range of approaches such as promoting vaccinations, testing for infections, reviewing published research, evaluating existing actions and examining how they are put into practice.
Matthew Hickman said:
We are very pleased that the NIHR has supported the renewal of our HPRU. This is a testament to the many excellent and impactful research projects our team have collaborated on with UKHSA. It’s also a great opportunity to increase research capacity and training of future research leaders.
