“Dear ENRICH member

Some of you may be aware of CHAIN, a virtual network of researchers, practitioners, managers and educators working in health and social care, which has been around for more than 20 years and is currently supported by NIHR. CHAIN has a sub-group for members who are interested in Care Homes research, and this email is to let you know about a new CHAIN initiative to stimulate collaboration and increase care home researchers’ readiness to react to research funding opportunities.

The idea came from Sub-Group Co-facilitator Kellyn Lee (University of Southampton), who suggested that having greater advance knowledge of potential collaborators would be a clear advantage as and when research funding opportunities arise. With prior awareness of who is interested in what aspects of care home research, and of their experience and strengths, it would be much more likely that sub-group members could coalesce in a short space of time to produce collaborative bids when calls for research are made.

To do this, CHAIN will be hosting some virtual ‘Care Homes Research Bring & Buy Events’ where prospective care home researchers will run through a short summary of work that they would like to do. (This will be based on a generic NIHR-style stage 1 proposal submission). The events will not only enable potential collaborations to emerge, but by requiring them to explain, present to their peers and answer their questions, they may also help researchers clarify their thinking and hone both research questions and their ability to communicate the value of the work.

A message about this initiative was circulated to relevant CHAIN members just before and after Christmas, and the response has been very enthusiastic. To date 41 researchers have said they would be keen to participate, 13 of whom have indicated that they would wish to present a summary of work they would like to do. We have also had messages of support and offers of input from the NIHR, and NIHR Research Design Service and NIHR ARC Care Home Researchers Network, and NIHR ARC Wessex.

Given the scale of this response, CHAIN plans to deliver a series of ‘Bring & Buy’ sessions on Zoom during the course of February/March, with presentations divided into themed clusters so that participants can elect to engage in the session or sessions that most closely match their own interests and/or aspirations.

The purpose of this message is to let you know that as an ENRICH member you would be most welcome to participate in one or more of these ‘Bring & Buy’ sessions. Because the initiative is being run by CHAIN it will be necessary to join the CHAIN network should you wish to take part, however membership is free. If you wanted to present an outline proposal you would need to complete a proforma and return it to CHAIN by close on Monday 25th January, and be available for a ‘run-through’ Zoom meeting just for those who wish to present a summary of research work that you would like to do. This will take place on the afternoon of Friday 29th January and will involve prospective presenters delivering a short verbal overview of the work they would like to do (maximum 5 minutes). You may, however, prefer to participate in one or more of the sessions, but not to present. In either case please e-mail david.chain@icloud.com as soon as possible.”