Health and Care Network

In July 2025, the Government published its NHS 10‑Year Plan, setting out a long‑term vision for a health and care system. The Plan calls for three decisive shifts: from hospital to community‑based care, from analogue to digital systems, and from sickness to prevention. It also places strong emphasis on workforce wellbeing, tackling health inequalities, and embedding research and innovation as drivers of system transformation.

Against this backdrop, Loughborough University has established the Health and Care Research Network to mobilise its interdisciplinary strengths and respond directly to these national priorities. The Network provides a focal point for collaboration, capacity‑building and partnership, positioning the University as a contributor to the future of UK health and care. 

Loughborough University’s interdisciplinary strengths  

Loughborough University has internationally recognised strengths that directly address the challenges facing the NHS and wider health system. These include world‑leading expertise in physical activity and public health, exercise and rehabilitation science; social science and policy research on health systems and organisations; design and human‑centred innovation; digital technologies and med-tech; data science; and engineering. 

The Health and Care Research Network is co‑led by Professor Lauren Sherar, Professor of Physical Activity and Public Health and Dean of the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, and Professor Justin Waring, Professor of Sociology and Dean of the School of Social Sciences and Humanities. Together, they bring complementary expertise spanning population health, prevention, rehabilitation, workforce wellbeing, health services organisation and system governance. 

Professor Sherar’s research focuses on physical activity, sedentary behaviour and public health across the life course, with a particular emphasis on translating evidence into policy and practice. Professor Waring’s work is internationally recognised for its interdisciplinary approach to understanding how health and care services are organised, governed and improved. His research bridges social and policy sciences, health sciences and management, with a strong focus on quality, safety, leadership and implementation. 

Building momentum through collaboration 

To shape the Network’s direction, a series of internal research workshops and events were held, bringing together researchers from across the University. These sessions created space to share expertise, explore alignment with the NHS 10‑Year Plan and wider government priorities, and identify opportunities for new, collaborative research programmes. 

This process led to the identification of a set of cross‑cutting research themes that reflect both national policy priorities and Loughborough’s distinctive strengths. 

Work, Workforce and Wellbeing 

This theme responds to growing pressures on workforce capacity, staff wellbeing and economic inactivity linked to ill-health which are key priorities in both the NHS 10-Year Plan and the Government’s Keep Britain Working strategy. Drawing on strengths in occupational health, psychology, organisational studies, human factors and systems thinking, research focuses on: 

  • Improving health, wellbeing and retention across the health and care workforce. 
  • Reducing long-term sickness absence and enabling sustainable return-to-work pathways. 
  • Designing healthier work environments and evidence-based interventions that support productivity, inclusion and good work across the life course. 
  • Building workforce resilience, easing pressure on services and supporting healthier working lives across the wider economy. 

Rehabilitation 

Aligned with the NHS ambition to shift care from hospital to community and home-based settings, this theme builds on Loughborough’s national leadership in rehabilitation science, including its role in the UK’s first National Rehabilitation Centres. 

Research spans pre rehabilitation for surgery, to early post-injury care through to long-term recovery, with a focus on innovations that enhance independence and quality of life. Core areas include psychology, biomechanics, exercise physiology, wearable and remote monitoring technologies, digital and immersive rehabilitation tools, and bioengineered solutions. 

The theme also encompasses internationally significant work on long COVID, using patient-engaged and interdisciplinary approaches to develop effective, equitable and scalable rehabilitation and management strategies. 

Health Technologies 

Digital transformation sits at the heart of the NHS 10-Year Plan, and Loughborough’s health technologies research directly supports this agenda. Work in this area includes wearable devices, digital health tools, remote monitoring, assistive technologies and data-enabled innovation. 

Research prioritises technologies that are usable, inclusive and scalable, and that can be safely embedded within health and care pathways. Emphasis is placed on deployment beyond traditional clinical settings - supporting care closer to home, self-management and prevention. 

Public Health and Lifestyle 

Reflecting the shift from sickness to prevention, this theme recognises distal determinants of health and via a systems-based approach addresses lifestyle-related determinants of health across the life course to focus on primary and secondary prevention of disease thus reducing the burden on the NHS. Research focuses on physical activity, sedentary behaviour, lifestyle medicine (including nutrition and sleep), women’s and men’s health, and early-years interventions. 

This work supports government ambitions to improve healthy life expectancy and reduce health inequalities, while aligning with wider public health priorities on obesity, mental health and long-term conditions. 

Organisation and Implementation 

This theme draws on strengths in implementation science, health policy, governance and co-design to understand how evidence-based innovations can be adopted, scaled and sustained within complex health and care systems. 

Research addresses leadership, regulation, service design and cross-sector collaboration, ensuring that innovations developed within the Network translate into meaningful, durable system change. 

Global Health 

This theme highlights the interconnected nature of global health and its dependence on cross-border systems and challenges. Our research adopts an interdisciplinary approach spanning public health, nutrition, exercise science, human biology, psychology, sociology, engineering, design, and healthcare systems.  

We address major global issues including the health impacts of climate change, pressures on food and energy systems, access to maternal and child health and nutrition services, non-communicable disease prevention through lifestyle interventions, infectious diseases, and antimicrobial resistance.  

In partnership with clinical and community networks as well as academic partners in the UK and internationally, we aim to inform policy and enhance health outcomes in the global South. 

Next steps for the Group 

Across all themes, the Group is committed to building the conditions needed for successful collaboration and impact. Key enablers include: 

  • Creating more structured spaces for interdisciplinary connection and idea development. 
  • Investing in shared data infrastructure and analytic capacity. 
  • Strengthening patient, public and community involvement and engagement. 
  • Deepening partnerships with regional, national and international stakeholders, including NHS organisations, policymakers, industry and the voluntary sector. 

By aligning its research with the NHS 10‑Year Plan and related government priorities, the Health and Care Research Group aims to deliver high‑quality, policy‑relevant research that improves health outcomes, supports the workforce, reduces inequalities and contributes to a more sustainable health and care system.