The project aims to improve the skills and confidence of PCC staff and the community members it works with in using and producing research. We hope that by setting up an HDRC, it will produce a change in how people work utilising the thinking around 'human learning systems'. This approach will allow the people of the city, and the staff delivering our services, to contribute directly to research and the design and delivery of services.
A unit will be established in PCC to bring together some of the current staff who are interested in research with researchers and University colleagues in an embedded approach. University researchers will teach the research skills that are needed and supply specialist knowledge. PCC staff will help researchers understand the local situation. They will carry out research projects together and involve local people and organisations. The projects will be focused on elements that influence people's health in Plymouth, particularly in more disadvantaged areas.
The HDRC will build on these strengths to ensure that there is better understanding of what works, why and under which circumstances (financial, contextual and organisational) and share this learning locally and nationally, particularly with other socially and economically deprived coastal communities.
