About PRUK
Introduction
The UK supports an unparalleled collection of longitudinal population studies (LPS) that follow the same individuals over time and that provide a wealth of longitudinal information from their participants. This information covers many domains describing participants and the society and environment in which they live.
Alongside the studies is a network of services producing and providing longitudinal population research resources across activities including data discovery, data access, data linkage, education and training, capacity building, social engagement, and knowledge mobilisation.
Population Research UK (PRUK) is a joint ESRC and MRC initiative with UKRI funding aiming to maximise the use and benefits of longitudinal population studies across social, economic and biomedical research.
The PRUK mission is to harness these assets and with them create a research environment where the potential of research from LPS is maximised.
Preparatory work
During 2021, ESRC, MRC and Wellcome commissioned Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) to undertake a scoping programme. This was established to inform where more action was needed to maximise the research potential of longitudinal population study (LPS) data.
The resultant population research UK prospectus (PDF, 1,404KB) outlines possible activities and a structure for PRUK. In response to the findings of the prospectus, ESRC and MRC commissioned the PRUK Coordination Hub, and three foundation projects in preparation for PRUK.
PRUK has the responsibility to deliver this vision and is an open, transparent, inclusive, and interdisciplinary endeavour. It is the role of the PRUK Hub to draw on years of community consultation and established needs, and commission well-placed services to maximise population-research. This key task will be guided by vision principles which shape – but do not determine – service provision. These are:
(i) LPS community representation and utility
(ii) Promoting and enabling well-undertaken science
(iii) Bi-directional stakeholder interaction
(iv) Future proofing UK LPS activity
The Hub
PRUK is led by a coordinating hub and is supported by an expert Hub Leadership Group who work towards removing barriers to data usage, broadening insights through data linkage, and enhancing capacity for cutting-edge science. It aims to increase policy relevance and maintain public confidence in data use for research.
The PRUK Hub focuses on broad community engagement through a ‘PRUK Forum’ and on commissioning work – appropriately placed into a mapped out existing infrastructure landscape – to drive change through five key workstreams:
- Date discovery
- Data linkage
- Data access
- Coordination/advocacy
- Training
Through its coordination activities and commissioned investments, PRUK seeks to enhance research capacity, facilitate interdisciplinary research, and strengthen collaboration between researchers and policymakers.
Ultimately, PRUK aims to maximise the value of longitudinal research for the public good by fostering a vibrant and inclusive research community, promoting open science practices, and addressing emerging research challenges.
The PRUK Forum
PRUK is committed to undertaking a deep set of engagement activities designed to articulate and enable consultation on the PRUK activity, the results of mapping out existing services and activities and the support of exercises/funding opportunities. PRUK also has a function to support communities of practice and other LPS facing work with an appreciation of the diverse needs of that community.
To do this, PRUK has brought a system of rolling Forum Chairs to enable the Hub to benefit from a wide variety of networks and enable engagement with a range of different stakeholder communities as the initiative matures. These Chairs will lead the interactions with the community and will represent the community through HLG membership. They will raise needs, barriers and insights identified by the community to the Hub and will act as PRUK ambassadors, growing Forum membership and facilitating dissemination. Importantly, they will help ensure a community voice in PRUK decision making.
The PRUK Forum is the community of stakeholders that will be served by PRUK. This includes researchers, evidence users (including policymakers), study management teams, existing platforms and infrastructures that serve the LPS communities, and other groups working in closely-aligned LPS-focussed areas, industrial and commercial partners, study participants and the public. If you are interested in joining the PRUK Forum sign up to our mailing list.
Infrastructure connection
The Infrastructure Chairs, Andy Boyd and Jennifer Symonds, and Technical Lead, Chris Orton, work to ensure the strategic development of the LPS research infrastructure through PRUK activities. Infrastructure coordination will be based on the development of a system-wide infrastructure vision, the collation of infrastructure assets and analysis of existing LPS research services within and across the workstream domains. This will help guide commissioning, monitoring, and evaluation of PRUK supported activity – and avoid inappropriate overlap or apparent replacement. It will remain an ongoing activity across the PRUK award to ensure the vision is iteratively maintained and is responsive to change and innovation.