The University of Liverpool will play a key role in a multi-million pound regional research collaboration to deliver improved services for patients and communities across the North West.
From 1st April 2026, the Applied Research Collaboration 2 North West Coast (ARC2NWC) will support the transformation set out in the Government’s NHS 10 Year Plan, the Life Sciences Sector Plan and the Government’s Health and Growth Missions by tackling some of the region’s most pressing health and social care challenges through high-quality applied research. It will also drive effective interventions and models of care into practice at pace.
ARCs are collaborative partnerships between universities, NHS trusts, local authorities, Health Innovation Networks, Integrated Care Boards, members of the public and the voluntary sector.
Professor Mark Gabbay, Professor of General Practice at The University of Liverpool and Director of the ARC2NWC, said: “Our delivery model will help support the system-shift from hospital to community, treatment to prevention and analogue to digital. A collaboration which will be at the forefront of tackling health inequalities in these areas across the North West Coast.”
ARC2NWC is part of a wider £157 million investment over 5 years in 10 regional Applied Research Collaborations (ARCs) to support the transformation of the health and care system across the UK by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, the research arm of the NHS.
Hosted by NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group (UHL Group), ARC2NWC will provide applied research findings and key evidence to hospitals, GPs and local authorities through projects which address systematic priorities in the local health and social care system.
The population of the region faces stark health inequalities. Average life expectancy can vary across local authority areas by up to 12 years, and healthy life expectancies vary by over twenty years.
Since their formation in 2019, the ARCs have been instrumental in delivering applied health, public health and social care research that improves outcomes for patients.