Who are we?

Our partnership is on a mission to improve the lives of people living with long-term health conditions. We’re going to make the most of the data we’re all sitting on…the data held in our smartphones and wearables. We’re going to turn that data into world leading health research and help you to do the same, so that together, with patients at the heart of everything we do, we can transform health outcomes for everyone.

Who are the Health Research from Home Partners?

It’s going to take the brightest minds in health, academia and technology to deliver our mission. Led by the University of Manchester and Professor Will Dixon, our partnership also includes:

What are we going to do?

We’ve thought long and hard about what is holding electronic, person generated health research back and what we can do to break down some of those barriers.

Unique Events

You won’t find events like ours anywhere else. They will be created and run by people who have successfully completed research projects using smartphones and wearables and they’ll be designed to help you complete your own research project.

We’re planning monthly webinars, an annual event, hackathons and grant writing retreats.

Our first webinar will feature our Principal Investigator Professor Will Dixon, who will share how he ran his successful research project, Cloudy With a Chance of Pain? The research showed that people with long-term health conditions are 20% more likely to suffer from pain on days that are humid and windy with low atmospheric pressure. This was done using a smartphone app developed by healthcare software company uMotif, participants recorded daily symptoms while the local weather was determined from location data provided by the smartphone’s GPS. He’ll also share his vision for how Health Research from Home will revolutionise the future of health research.

Alongside each webinar you will have the opportunity to book on to an Information Governance Clinic, a Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement Clinic, and a Tech Clinic to support you as you develop your own smartphone and wearable health research project.

Community

Our partners, Health Data Research UK (HDRUK) have enabled us to create a space where you can get the information you need to run your health research project using smartphones and wearables.

From finding the right people, to accessing data sets, to downloading methodologies, to guidance on Information Governance, to guidance on how to seamlessly integrate Patient and public involvement and engagement in your research. This online hub will continue to grow as you tell us what information we can provide to support you.

Research

We have two, exciting driver projects underway right now. The first on understanding patterns of physical activity after knee replacements, and the second on long-term health outcomes of Long COVID. Both of which are aiming to link electronic, person generated health data to NHS data, something that will revolutionise the future of health research.

We’ll be sharing our own journey so that it can inform your research.

Find out more

Email hrfh@manchester.ac.uk to find out more about Health Research from Home.

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