What we do
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Policy Research Unit in Older People and Frailty / Healthy Ageing* aims to produce timely, high-quality evidence for policymakers. We are a collaboration between The University of Manchester, Newcastle University and the London School of Economics.
Our aims are to answer policymakers’ questions and help the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and its arm’s-length bodies (such as the National Health Service and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities) make informed decisions on new and emerging policy needs related to the health and wellbeing of people aged 50 and above living in England.
The NIHR Policy Research Unit in Older People and Frailty / Healthy Ageing is part of the NIHR. NIHR PRUs are composed of experts and researchers who undertake policy research providing evidence to support national policy making in England.
The NIHR awarded £100 million over five years to 20 PRUs across England that provide evidence to respond to new and emerging policy needs. For more information and links to other PRUs, visit the NIHR website.
* The NIHR Policy Research Unit Older People and Frailty is changing its name to the NIHR Policy Research Unit Healthy Ageing as of 1st January 2024, and will be setting up a new web presence to reflect this. To help make the transition smoother, we will refer to both names on this website until the revised URL and site is launched later this year. We continue to be the same collaborative partnership and will seek to build upon and expand our research portfolio over the past five years and into the future.
Projects
Learn about our work in specific areas of health and care for older people.
Rapid responses
See our responses to requests from the Department of Health and Social Care and other bodies.
COVID-19 research
View our research into the impact of COVID-19 on healthcare for older people.
Themes and methods
Learn about our research themes and the methods we use in our projects.
Meet the team
Our team comprises research and administration staff from The University of Manchester, Newcastle University and the London School of Economics.
Chris Todd
Director of Policy Research Unit (Manchester) and Theme Lead for Ageing, Frailty and End-of-Life-Care
Barbara Hanratty
Director of Policy Research Unit (Newcastle) and Theme Lead for Long Term Care
Martin Knapp
Assistant Director of Policy Research Unit (London School of Economics)
Get involved
Input from older people is important in all of our research projects.
Get in touch with us to find out how to get involved in our work, and about opportunities with other organisations.
Email: pru-manager@manchester.ac.uk
Contact us
Get in touch if you’d like to know more.
If you would like to ask any questions about our work, please get in touch:
Email: pru-manager@manchester.ac.uk
This research is funded through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Policy Research Unit in Older People and Frailty (funding reference PR-PRU-1217-2150). As of 01.01.24, the unit has been renamed to the NIHR Policy Research Unit in Healthy Ageing (funding reference NIHR206119). The views expressed on this website are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.
Contact us
Connect with NIHR Older People and Frailty/Health Ageing PRU
Images used on this website
Thank you to the Centre for Ageing Better for images used, taken from their age positive image library.