FUSE (the centre for translational research in public health) strategy meeting

Last Tuesday I attended - as an external member of the FUSE strategy board- a strategy meeting to explore and inform the centre's policy, strategy and tactics for the years to come. The meeting was led by the centre's director, Professor Martin White, and was held after the centre's third anniversary, and two yeard before its firts term ends. FUSE is an inter-university centre for translational research in public health. It is a collaboration between  five universities in the north-east of England - Durham, Newcastle, Northumbria, Sunderland and Teesside - and works in partnership with the public and in collaboration with the National Health Service, local and regional government and other public, private and voluntary organisations in North East England. FUSE focusses on the translation from research into public health policy and practice, it aims to do practice-based research to improve evidence-based practice, and its main goal is to develop a scalable model for such translation. Such translation of research into policy and practice, and translation of policy and practice issues in research is of of great importance in the field of public health. A lot of research is being conducted but the results certainly do not always find their way into true practice, and much of policy and practice in public health is not evidence-based. In the Netherlands this translation issue is being tackled by so-called academic collaborative centre's. The EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research leads and participates in anumber of such centre's, for example for public health, for youth health care, for occupational health, and mental health.