The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Complex Reviews Support Unit provides timely and appropriate support for the delivery of complex reviews that are funded and/or supported by NIHR - including Cochrane Reviews! Project Manager of the unit, Mora Aitken, answers a few questions to introduce the unit more widely to the Cochrane community.
What’s the Complex Reviews Support Unit and what do you do?
In July 2015, a consortium of researchers, led by Professor Olivia Wu, Health Economics and Health Technology Assessment (HEHTA), University of Glasgow, was awarded £2 million by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) to provide support within the UK in areas of research that require complex evidence synthesis. The NIHR Complex Reviews Support Unit (CRSU) is a collaboration between the University of Glasgow, the University of Leicester, and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. CRSU is funded by NIHR to support and encourage successful delivery of complex reviews of importance to the UK NHS, whilst building capacity and capability within the research community through the support given.
What are your aims and who can you support?
The aim of CRSU is to provide flexible, timely, and appropriate support for the successful delivery of complex reviews that are funded and/or supported by the NIHR, and in particular, reviews undertaken by Cochrane UK Groups.
What support can you provide?
We provide one-to-one support on methodological challenges, as well as seminars, workshops, and training courses in evidence synthesis. Our expertise includes: diagnostic test accuracy reviews, network meta-analysis, individual participant data meta-analysis, economic evaluation, and realist synthesis and narrative synthesis of quantitative and qualitative data.
What have you been doing for the past year?
To fulfil its remit, the CRSU has undertaken a programme of events to reach out to the NIHR research community and in particular the Cochrane community. This has been initiated by a series of workshops, the introduction of ‘Seminars with Cutting Edge Methods’ and individual support to Cochrane Review Groups (CRGs). Two successful workshops were held at The Cochrane UK and Ireland Symposium 2016 in Birmingham in March – ‘Methodological Challenges in Complex Reviews’ and ‘The NIHR Systematic Reviews Programme: Opportunities for Greater Impact’.
What are your future plans?
The beginning of year two sees several initiatives in place to ensure that CRSU continues to increase its outreach to the research community to provide novel and sophisticated methodological approaches in synthesising different types of data. Planned activates include developing training courses, running further workshops in collaboration with individual CRGs and participating in the 2017 Symposium. In addition, CRSU will also be at hand to provide support to CRGs receiving awards from the NIHR Incentive Scheme and Programme Grants. CRSU anticipates a second challenging and fulfilling year, building a successful working relationship with Cochrane in supporting the UK NHS in delivering clinically and cost-effective services that are evidence-based.
How do I apply for support?
For further information on CRSU and to apply for support, see our CRSU website.
The CRSU is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) (project number 14/178/29)