Cohort 2026 Research Placement Project
About The Project
This project takes place in Leicester City, Leicestershire, and Rutland, one of the most ethnically diverse regions of the UK, with considerable ethnic-based health inequalities ethnicity (LLR ICB, 2025). To address the challenges facing healthcare systems, many regions are taking a creative health approach to develop new models to achieve equitable health outcomes across the population. Creative health is defined as the use of creative and cultural activities to support public health and wellbeing across prevention and targeted interventions (National Centre for Creative Health, 2023).
Currently in LLR, the creative health sector lacks coordination and consistency of approach. There are effective partnerships but the overall picture is still fragmented. To support work in this area, the Creative Health Network was established at the University of Leicester in September 2024, part of the Heritage Hub with support from the Institute for Precision Health. It is co-lead by Dr Nuala Morse (UoL) and Sallie Varnam (University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust), and aims to support research collaborations and partnerships for creative health provision in LLR. It fosters a membership of 150 researchers, community partners, patient groups, health professionals, and creative practitioners.
This 12-week placement project will support the development of the Creative Health Network by mapping existing creative health provision and community assets across the LLR to gain insights into the scale, focus and impact of current activities and their target populations. This will be complemented by survey work and a focus group to gain views on the current barriers and enablers for integration of creative activity into health systems. The outcomes of the placement will include a database of providers; a short report identifying areas for growth in relation to LLR health inequalities and community priorities; and a mapping exercise pinpointing current activity and geographical and demographic gaps in provision.
The outputs from the placement project will help to develop action for a more responsive and sustainable creative health ecosystem in the LLR. It will also help inform the development of the new Creative Health and Heritage Centre at Glenfield Hospital, a pioneering initiative that will bring arts, culture and creativity to patients, visitors, and staff, and act as a bridge into care in the community to address the NHS prevention agenda. The insights from the placement will also directly inform the development of the Creative Health Network at UoL by identifying the range of local partners for future research collaboration.
Project Aims
The overall aims of this project are:
Inform Policy & Practice: Generate actionable data to guide strategic action and innovation across the region, and to enable future research collaborations and the development of practice.
Map Provision: Identify and catalogue existing creative health programmes and cultural resources and assets across Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland and create a digital resource to share findings.
Understand Delivery Models: Examine the type and scope of interventions offered
Identify Beneficiaries: Explore who is being served, with attention to inclusion, accessibility, and social prescribing pathways.
Uncover Partnerships: Investigate intersectoral collaborations between health services, arts organisations, local authorities, and third-sector groups.
Highlight Gaps: Pinpoint under-served areas and populations, informing future action based on community needs and interest.
Project Team
- Research Candidate: Lucy Bartram
- Lead Supervisor: Dr Nuala Morse (University of Leicester)
- Academic Co-Supervisor: Dr Maria Inês Oliveira Varela da Silva (Inês Varela-Silva) ( Loughborough University)
- Community Supervisor: Sallie Varnam (University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust)