A new agreement to create a joint service for the support of clinical researchers in Nottingham is launched today (29 January 2021) by Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and the University of Nottingham.

The new Nottingham Joint Research Office (NJRO) promises to significantly improve research and development activity across the two organisations benefiting patients and boosting the city’s world-wide reputation for advances in clinical care.

Medical Director for Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Dr Keith Girling, welcomed the new development and the ambition to bring the existing strengths of both organisations together to deliver greater benefit to patients: “The launch today of the Joint Research Office is testament to Nottingham’s commitment to patient-based research. Supporting clinicians and academics to set up and deliver clinical research projects quickly and efficiently will contribute significantly to the health and wealth of the greater Nottingham region and beyond. By combining our expertise and resources we will ensure that our world-class research directly benefits patients now and in the future. Our Joint Office will invest more time, resources, expertise and funding into research, which will transform lives.”

Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Knowledge Exchange) for University of Nottingham, Professor Dame Jessica Corner, wholeheartedly endorsed the development and ambition of the new Joint Research Office which is integral in the further advancement of human and clinical research and will positively impact upon patient outcomes now and in the future.

“It is with great pleasure today that I endorse the launch of the Joint Research Office. There has been a long-standing mutually beneficial partnership between the University of Nottingham and Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. The Joint Research Office is an opportunity to formalise those relationships to enable us to deliver a joint ambition to become world-leading within the areas of clinical and biomedical research, and clinical innovation. This new combined single service will significantly improve research and development activity across the two organisations benefiting patients and clinical research now and in the future.”

The new service has evolved from the long-standing partnership between NUH and the University of Nottingham and comes in the year of celebration to mark 50 years of medicine and 30 years of nursing at the University’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. The NJRO formalises our partnership and brings together world-leading clinical research, clinical and biomedical life sciences, and clinical innovation.

The NJRO will facilitate closer working between academics, clinicians and patients and aim to streamline the existing arrangements for research governance and ethics, funding and delivery of clinical research, which is currently managed separately by each organisation. Every year, hundreds of clinical research trials are developed by and take place in Nottingham across the two organisations. These cover the early development of treatments and vaccines, including most recently contributing to the research supporting the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine; to studies looking at diseases in whole population groups, with thousands of patients taking part.

Through the NJRO, researchers will be able to find the expertise and support they need to develop new research, access training and development to support their research careers and benefit from the NHS and University sponsored centres of excellence dedicated to translating research findings into better healthcare services.

The Nottingham Joint Research Office will be led by Co-Directors Dr Maria Koufali (NUH) and Ms Ruby Ali (UoN) supported by a growing team of 50 expert research and development managers working across both organisations to deliver seamless support to Nottingham researchers.

Research and clinical leaders welcome the launch of the Nottingham Joint Research Office here.