Our team of public health experts and research methodologists have expertise in a range of research methods, including mixed methods, health economics, qualitative methods, epidemiology, quasi-experimental design, and involving the public in your research.

Our methodology advisers help researchers to design their research projects and develop funding applications. Support is offered to anyone seeking advice on how to carry out public health research in settings outside the NHS. This includes:

• Advice on research design before funding has been awarded

• Advice on pitching and writing funding applications

• Recommending appropriate methods and designs

• Explaining and signposting to funding available for public health research

• Training and development for public health researchers including access to online resources and signposting to training opportunities. 

• Identifying possible gaps in a research team and suggesting collaborators

• Advising on public involvement in research

• Helping you to demonstrate the potential value and impact of your research

• Reviewing drafts of your application and suggesting improvements

Researchers contacting the RSS or the SCPH are asked to fill out our support request form with as much detail as possible about their research project or idea. Based on the information provided we will allocate a lead adviser, who will contact the researcher for an initial conversation.

After the initial conversation, the researcher might be invited to further meetings with other methodologists or the wider team. If you have a draft funding application available, the team might meet with you to discuss their suggestions for improvement, or they might offer to critique it from the perspective of a mock funding panel.

The Research Support Service delivered by the University of Southampton and Partners run online events to support researchers in developing funding proposals. In particular, the Essential Guide to Grant Applications (EGGA) masterclass instructs researchers on how to write a grant application that is strong from a methodological point of view, reads well and presents a convincing case for funding. EGGA is currently aimed at all researchers in the health and social care sphere, but we are working on adapting it for public health research - watch this space!

Your lead adviser will discuss with you what training opportunities may be available. This could be an online event hosted by us or courses provided by other organisations.

Training advice from the SCPH will include: 

• Signposting to online resources and training opportunities as appropriate for your research project

• Bespoke training and development opportunities for researchers and organisations in the Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, and the Isle of Wight (BOBHI) region

If you are based in the BOBHI region, we are keen to hear from you about what training and development opportunities would be helpful in enabling more public health research in local authority, community, education, and criminal justice settings.

Working with those responsible for developing public health research infrastructure in their organisation, we offer ready-to-use guidance with embedded processes and practical tools on research sponsorship, contracts, ethics, governance, and data management. We offer:

• Delivery support and collaboration opportunities for researchers based in Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, or Isle of Wight (BOBHI)

• Bespoke support for organisations in the BOBHI region

Our dedicated team are working on guides and toolkits to help researchers in non-clinical settings set up public health research in their own organisations. 

We are working on:

• Developing a central repository to share guidance, templates and examples of best practice

• Providing partners in Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, and the Isle of Wight (BOBHI) with a comprehensive governance and ethics service for public health research that meets the needs of researchers and organisations

We want to know whether these toolkits and guides work for researchers and those responsible for developing public health research infrastructure. We are keen to explore what else might be needed to help teams and organisations overcome ethics and governance hurdles.

If you'd like to get involved, please email phercs@soton.ac.uk.