Professor Lucy Chappell is the Chief Executive Officer of the United Kingdom’s (UK) National Institute for Health Care and Research (NIHR). She is Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care and an adviser to Ministers. Lucy is also a Professor of Obstetrics and a practising Consultant Obstetrician.
Research with real-world impact
“As the research arm of the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care, the NIHR’s mission is to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research,” Lucy says. “We work with individuals and communities to tackle the most pressing health and care challenges, directing research where it can have the greatest impact to the lives of the patients and the public.”
That impact is both local and global. The NIHR co-creates, supports and enables research opportunities with international partners to address common challenges in areas of strategic priority. “We see it in everyday improvements – from prevention to early diagnoses and new treatments.” And it is not just about healthcare. “For every £1 invested, we generate £13 in benefits through improved healthcare outcomes, savings to the National Health Service (NHS) and wider benefits.”
Health and care research and the NIHR
Lucy is proud of the NIHR’s role in the UK’s health research ecosystem. “We support a skilled workforce, cutting-edge infrastructure, and partnerships across government, academia, industry, and the NHS.”
“Our reach extends globally, playing a vital role in advancing health and care research in low- and middle-income countries and helping to address shared global challenges.”
“In our ever more interconnected world, international research cooperation is fundamental to healthcare breakthroughs. We work closely with our international partners to identify areas of unmet research need, simplify research processes and increase generalisability and uptake of research evidence.”
Lucy adds, "As we confront longer-term challenges such as health security, climate change and ageing societies, the need to have a coordinated approach to build and share expertise is clearer than ever.”
Partnering with Australia
The UK government has in recent years grown its research collaboration with Australia. In October 2024, the NIHR, the Medical Research Future Fund and the National Health and Medical Research Council launched a joint call for funding. This call aims to address serious health conditions where there are currently limited options for prevention, diagnosis or treatment.
“International efforts such as this partnership drive innovation in health and care, saving and improving lives. I’ve seen first-hand how researchers can ignite conversations across our countries to collaborate on critical health and care topics, including in my own specialty of maternity and neonatal care. And government funders play an important role in making that easier and more impactful.”
Advancing international health and care research to transform lives
“Everything we do internationally is guided by our core delivery principles: impact, innovation, inclusion, and investment – with the ultimate goal of improving lives around the world.”
But international research is not without its challenges. “These include scale of need, competing priorities, and persistent inequities. With such a substantial level of need for health and care research – across biosecurity and infectious diseases, women and children’s health, non-communicable conditions and much more, it can sometimes be hard to target funding.” Delivering effective research in lower-resource settings can be even more complex.
Lucy remains optimistic. “The science community is well placed to demonstrate how prioritising areas of unmet need, generating evidence, and ensuring pull-through into implementation will drive impact for patients and the public. But this needs foundational infrastructure, research workforce, and agile systems to deliver research funding.”
She also points to the rapid pace of technological change. “By pooling expertise, infrastructure, and collaboration across borders, we can accelerate innovation and ensure technologies are deployed safely, equitably, and effectively worldwide.”
Outlook for global health research
Looking ahead, Lucy sees international health and care research becoming more collaborative, more innovative, and more essential than ever. She is positive about the potential for impact when countries come together to address shared challenges through science.
“The enthusiasm and energy of our researchers across the UK and Australian research communities is obvious. At a government level, we should consider how best to support and harness the collaborations. We have seen how this can work with support across the regulatory arena, and now with this renewed commitment to shared funding calls, there is a clear mandate to push forward.”
Her advice to researchers considering international collaboration?
“Go for it! It may not always be straightforward. Navigating different regulatory systems, aligning priorities across countries, and managing logistics takes time and patience. But the benefits – both scientific and personal – are significant. This is how science and research can make an impact for patients and the public around the world.”