Acquired brain injury social care incubator

Building capacity, careers and impact in acquired brain injury social care research
Doctor examining patient with an acquired brain injury

Acquired brain injury social care incubator

Building capacity, careers and impact in acquired brain injury social care research
Title: Acquired Brain Injury Social Care Incubator
Funded by: NIHR 
Funding amount: £120,000 plus additional yearly seed funding
Location: UK 
Dates: 2025–2028
Project partners: Co-PI, Professor Andrew Bateman (University of Essex) 
University of Plymouth Co-App: Professor Alyson Norman  
 

Overview

This NIHR-supported Incubator builds capacity, careers and impactful research in acquired brain injury social care research. 
It is led by colleagues from the University of Plymouth and University of Essex. It welcomes anyone wanting to engage in research that supports people disadvantaged by acquired brain injury. This includes those affected by life experiences such as homelessness, migration, domestic abuse.
More sustainable models of social participation after brain injury is one example of outputs it hopes to see. The incubator is closely linked with the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre for Brain Injury.

Objectives 

The Incubator aims to:
  • support aspiring researchers and increase their awareness of opportunities to access funding
  • build lived-experience networks, particularly among marginalised groups
  • develop faculty and expand a network of supervisors and collaborators and ensure sustainability.
Input comes from key stakeholders, including academic and charity partners, and professional organisations. It is actively seeking improved representation across occupational groups and diverse lived experiences in its advisory network and workstreams. It also welcomes collaboration with anyone working on these and other relevant topics.

Context of the issue

There is a significant gap on a national level of social care knowledge and research expertise in the field of 'adults affected by acquired brain injury (ABI)' and the impact on their families. Current research in the field of ABI is focused primarily on NHS critical care and on neurorehabilitation. ABI is, however, a life-long condition that requires extensive social care input, and yet social care research around ABI is not widely addressed, leaving the needs of survivors and their families under-reported, under-represented and unmet by services.
The Acquired Brain Injury Social Care Network Incubator is led by a diverse team of experts in the field, each with extensive experience engaging with educators, practitioners and experts-by-experience. We are mobilising existing national expertise networks to address this gap, with the focus of building on two strands of capacity development:
  1. a growth of high-quality social care research expertise through a series of national activities
  2. an increase in transdisciplinary working to grow evidence-based practice from which to develop improved ABI care in the social care sector.
A key aim of the incubator is to bring together researchers with underrepresented groups of experts-by-experience of brain injury, including those from marginalised groups such as homeless, traveller communities, immigrant populations, women who have experienced domestic abuse, people within the criminal justice system and youth offenders.

There is a need to shift the focus in the field of acquired brain injury (ABI) from simply viewing it as an acute medical condition and instead consider it through the lens of a long-term condition.

With over 335,000 people admitted to hospital with a brain injury every year, the impact on both individuals and their families is widespread. There is a general lack of support and resources for individuals. It is, therefore, an imperative to improve the research base in ABI social care to ensure there are effective approaches to supporting people long term.

Alyson NormanProfessor Alyson Norman
Associate Head of School for Teaching, Learning, Quality and Student Experience

How the project addresses the issue

This project seeks to bring together experts-by-experience and researchers and develop research capacity within he newly evolving field of brain injury and social care. 
We support researchers to gain future funding to expand this research field. This is funded through additional seed funding.  
Stressed man in a beanie sitting outdoors holding his head

Centre for the Psychology of Health and Wellbeing

The Centre for the Psychology of Health and Wellbeing (CPHW) at the University of Plymouth brings together researchers in clinical, cognitive, social, and environmental psychology to understand and improve health in real-world contexts.
The CPHW's interdisciplinary research addresses health and wellbeing across the lifespan, and integrates theoretical models and methods from neuroscience, cognition and applied social and health psychology.
 
Blue rose petal with dew for the CPHW