South Yorkshire Children and Young People’s Health Research Initiative launched to improve child health outcomes through research

This week Sheffield Children’s, the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University came together to launch the South Yorkshire Children and Young People’s Health Research (SCYPHeR) Initiative! This exciting initiative aims to shape the future of children’s health through a collaborative approach to research.

SCYPHeR welcomed over 100 research colleagues to the launch where we had a full day of inspirational talks, an engaging Q&A panel and a chance to hear about incredible research that is currently taking place across South Yorkshire.

We heard snapshots into research on topics such as reducing health inequalities from Hora Soltani, Sheffield Hallam; health determinants of adolescent criminalisation from Nathan Hughes, University of Sheffield; empowering the next generation of child health researchers from Steven Turner, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health; and the importance of child health and wellbeing research in South Yorkshire from Oliver Coppard, Mayor of South Yorkshire.

Katie Ellis, Co-Director of SCYPHeR, said: “We were delighted to host the launch of SCYPHeR and to build on this exciting collaboration between the University of Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam University and Sheffield Children’s. It was fantastic to see representation from a range of professions and to witness new collaborations being formed by researchers working in different sectors and in different disciplines. We are excited to see how the network evolves and want to thank everyone for their contributions and commitment towards making SCYPHeR a reality.”

Meena Balasubramanian, Co-Director of SCYPHeR and Director of Research at Sheffield Children’s added: “It was a great day, bringing together clinicians and academics across both universities and Sheffield Children’s for the launch of SCYPHeR. A huge thank you to the many speakers who shared their passion and knowledge on children’s health research, with the highlight being the keynote talk from Mayor Oliver Coppard which was touching. This is only the beginning of something very exciting for child health research in the region.”

Through sharing research projects, expertise and more we will work together to do something amazing for children and young people!