Supporting Information: Senior Executive Officer

Supporting information: Senior Executive Officer

The NIHR Evaluation, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre (NETSCC), based at the University of Southampton, manages evaluation research programmes and activities for the NIHR, and plays an important role in improving the health and wealth of the nation through research.

NETSCC is part of the Wessex Institute, and is contracted by the Department of Health to manage evaluation research programmes and activities primarily as part of the research work strand of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).

We are a team of managers, academics, clinicians, researchers and support staff managed by the NETSCC Senior Management Team. We manage the identifying, prioritising, funding, delivery, publication and dissemination of high quality research and lead other NIHR initiatives to meet the needs of the public, patients and the NHS.

The research our programmes fund has a major impact: it is published in the world’s leading journals and it makes measurable differences to people’s lives and the quality of health services.

Our programmes form an essential component of health research in the UK, and their projects’ results provide information of immediate value to healthcare decision- and policy-making. At NETSCC, we strive to identify opportunities to add value at every stage and every level of the research process. One way that we do this is by using a ‘needs-led, science-added’ approach - a set of principles intended to ensure that the research is of the highest possible value to decision-makers, and that it provides real benefits to patients, the NHS and public health. Our panels and boards apply knowledge, expertise and methods to support the scientific quality of proposals and funded research to ensure that it answers important questions relevant to clinicians, patients and the public.

Our programmes comprise five distinct but interconnected evaluation research programmes:

•Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation

•Health Services and Delivery Research

•Health Technology Assessment

•Public Health Research

•Systematic Reviews

Other key activities that NETSCC leads on, or manages, on behalf of the NIHR, are:

•NIHR themed calls

•NIHR Trials Overview

•NIHR Journals Library

•Adding value in Research Framework

•James Lind Alliance (JLA) Priority Setting Partnerships (PSPs)

To find out more about NETSCC at the University of Southampton, please visit