picture of hands being held, title of the symposium, logos from the collaborative partners

Evidence Centre Symposium - Evidence to impact for a healthier Wales

Evidence to impact for a healthier Wales

The Health and Care Research Wales Evidence Centre will hold its biennial Symposium on Wednesday 19th March 2025, introduced by Jeremy Miles MS, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care.

The Symposium will highlight impact from the Evidence Centre and other research groups in Wales, and support attendees to develop focused research questions with a pathway to impact, to submit to the Evidence Centre’s next call for evidence needs.

Plenary session speakers will include:

  • Professor Liz Green | Consultant in Public Health, Programme Director for Health Impact Assessments and Honorary Professor at Liverpool University
  • Iain Bell | National Director for Public Health Knowledge & Research, Public Health Wales
  • Dr Helen Munro | Clinical Lead for the Strategic Clinical Network for Women’s Health, NHS Executive

The Symposium will be a full-day (10:00 – 15:00), in-person session at the Holiday Inn Cardiff City Centre.

 

                                                        Registration is open

 

Programme 

09.30      Registration and refreshments

10:00      Welcome | Professor Adrian Edwards, Evidence Centre Director

10:05      Opening Address | Jeremy Miles MS, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care

10:15      Plenary 1 |  Professor Liz Green, Consultant in Public Health, Programme Director for Health Impact Assessments and Honorary Professor at Liverpool University

               Setting the scene: Public Health, Evidence and Impact

10:30      Introducing the Evidence Centre and breakout sessions | Dr Alison Cooper, Evidence Centre Associate Director

10:45      Refreshment break 

11:00      Parallel Presentations and Workshops:

  • High Quality Services -  What do the Welsh public understand about NHS dental services, what do they think it could look like, and what are their priorities? (Evidence Centre)
  • Women’s Health - Supporting women, girls and people who menstruate to participate in physical activity. (Cardiff Evidence Synthesis Collaborative, Cardiff University)
  • Mental Health and Wellbeing - Wellness in work - supporting people in work and assisting people to return to the workforce. (Centre for Health Economics and Medicines Evaluation, Bangor University) 
  • Children and Social Care - Involving families in decision making with Family Group Conferencing. (Children’s Social Care Research and Development Centre - CASCADE )

12:00      Lunch 

12:55      Welcome back | Professor Adrian Edwards, Evidence Centre Director

13:00      Plenary 2 | Iain Bell, National Director for Public Health Knowledge & Research, Public Health Wales

               Data, Knowledge and Information: Understanding Public Health in real time

13:15      Introducing the breakout sessions | Dr Ruth Lewis, Evidence Centre Associate Director 

13:25      Parallel Presentations and Workshops:

  • Waiting Lists - Surgical hubs in supporting planned care activity. (Evidence Service, Public Health Wales)
  • Children and Young People - Factors associated with overweight or obesity in children under five years old. (Health Technology Wales)
  • Primary and Community Care - End of Life and Palliative Care Data Science. (Population Data Science, Swansea University)
  • Wider Determinants of Health -  Building a research culture through the Health Determinants Research Collaboration. (Dan Bristow, Wales Centre for Public Policy and Zoe Lancelott, Rhondda Cynon Taf Council)

14:25      Plenary 3 | Dr Helen Munro, Clinical Lead for the Strategic Clinical Network for Women’s Health, NHS Executive

               The Women's Health Plan for Wales - What next? Filling the gaps and paving new pathways in research

14:40      Closing remarks |  Professor Adrian Edwards, Evidence Centre Director

14:45      Refreshments and networking 

15:00      Symposium ends 

 

Plenary Speaker's Biographies 

Professor Liz Green, Consultant in Public Health, Programme Director for Health Impact Assessments and Honorary Professor at Liverpool University

 Consultant in Public Health for Policy and International Health Public Health Wales Liz is a Consultant in Public Health for Policy and International Health and the Programme Director for HIA at Public Health Wales (PHW). She is an   Honorary Visiting Professor at the Department of Geography and Planning, University of Liverpool and holds a PhD in ‘Health Impact Assessment   (HIA) as a tool to mobilise Health in all Policies’ from Maastricht University, The Netherlands. She has extensive experience in HIA, ‘Health in All   Policies’ including incorporating health into spatial planning processes and plans, and provides training, advice and guidance about HIA and other IA   processes. 

Liz has worked on approximately over 500 HIAs of varying strategic levels, complexity and topics including the comprehensive ‘The Public Health Implications of Brexit in Wales: A HIA Approach’ (PHW, 2019) and the ‘Health Impact Assessment of Climate Change in Wales (PHW, 2023). She has been recognized as a Woman of Influence 2022 by RTPI Planner for her work in Spatial Planning and Public Health and has published extensively on HIA. She is also the lead for the International Health Co-ordinating Centre in Public Health Wales.

Iain Bell, National Director for Public Health Knowledge & Research, Public Health Wales 

Iain Bell, National Director for Public Health Knowledge and Research, Public Health Wales.Iain Bell joined the Public Health Wales in July 2021 from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) where, as Deputy National Statistician for Population and Public Policy, he was responsible for delivering the 2021 Census in England and Wales. Having spent most of his career working on the wider determinants of health he says he already feels at home here at Public Health Wales.

Iain’s role encompasses data, knowledge and research, and he brings his experience working through the pandemic at the ONS to this post, which will further develop the public’s appetite for innovative data sources, real-time information and awareness of public health.

Dr Helen Munro, Clinical Lead for the Strategic Clinical Network for Women’s Health, NHS Executive

Clinical Lead for the Strategic Clinical Network for Women’s Health, NHS Executive Helen is a Consultant in Community Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare with Hywel Dda University Health Board (HDUHB), SW Wales. From April   2024 she has been seconded to the NHS Executive as Clinical Lead for the Strategic Clinical Network for Women’s Health and lead the   development of the first Women’s Health Plan for Wales, published on the 10th December 2024 The Women's Health Plan for Wales - NHS Wales Executive. She also continues to work clinically as a Specialist in Menopause Care.

Helen is involved as an academic researcher and is co-applicant on multiple projects across the UK and Wales and was awarded the prestigious Health and Care Research Wales, Research Time Award, 2023-2026. She is Co-Chief Investigator on the ESTEEM trial which aims to find out if adding testosterone to standard Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) can reduce menopausal symptoms beyond its effect on sexual function (libido) ESTEEM - Centre for Trials Research - Cardiff University. In 2023 Helen was conferred the title of Honorary Professor, at Aberystwyth University and holds an honorary role at Cardiff University in the Division of Population Health.

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