Developing a joint EDI strategy to support NIHR Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre and NIHR Moorfields Clinical Research Facility
The NIHR Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) is a partnership between Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology dedicated to researching and pioneering new innovations to transform the lives of patients facing sight loss. The NIHR Moorfields Clinical Research Facility (CRF) is the largest eye research facility in the world for early-phase clinical trials that aim to take laboratory discoveries into the eye clinic to benefit patients.
The NIHR Moorfields BRC and CRF teams approached EW Group to support them in creating a five-year equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) strategy. With a range of EDI initiatives already in place across the partner organisations, the NIHR Moorfields infrastructure team needed help pulling together the various strands of work into a comprehensive strategy that told a clear story of the next five years. They also wanted to set SMART objectives to ensure they could measure and track progress against key KPIs.
Creating a strategy aligned to NIHR Moorfields infrastructure partners
The NIHR Moorfields BRC and CRF partnership is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion with a mission to change lives by preserving sight and driving equity through innovation, particularly for those in greatest need. This includes embedding the principles and best practices of EDI in everything they do.
The strategy needed to take into account the context set by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)’s EDI strategy. The NIHR provides funding to NIHR Moorfields BRC and CRF, to support new innovations and studies into health and social care to improve people’s health and wellbeing. The strategy also needed to reflect the EDI work of the partners (Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology), showing their different EDI work strands and bringing it altogether into a coherent whole.
“We have a complex structure and work with partners in a hospital and an academic context, and our major funder is the NIHR. This complexity provides us with the opportunity for growth and learning. EW Group were able to bring all partners together to focus on the EDI initiatives specific to our NIHR Moorfields infrastructure.”
Dr Aadil Kazi, Manager, NIHR Moorfields BRC
Research and discovery
EW Diversity and Inclusion Consultant, Teresa Norman, led the work, collaborating closely with leaders at NIHR Moorfields BRC, CRF, Moorfields Eye Hospital, and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology. Teresa held a number of focus groups with stakeholders from across the partners organisations including research leaders and EDI professionals.
Teresa also reviewed a multitude of documentation from funding applications to partner strategies, including the existing NIHR strategy, all vital inputs to the strategy.
NIHR Moorfields Infrastructure Strategic Plan for 2022-2027
From the research and discovery phase, Teresa developed a comprehensive strategic plan with SMART objectives, recommended actions and KPIs to measure progress.
The plan, structured around the five pillars of the NIHR EDI strategy and customised to fit NIHR Moorfields’ infrastructure circumstances, objectives and projects, provides a clear framework for NIHR Moorfields BRC and CRF to prioritise actions, with recommended timescales and success criteria. The five pillars are as follows:
- Become a more inclusive recipient of grants (increasing diversity across the research that is supported by NIHR funding)
- Widen access and participation for greater diversity and inclusion (increasing the diversity of those taking part in its patient and public involvement and engagement activities, and those participating in research studies)
- Improve and invest in the talent pipeline (supporting our research and administrative teams across the BRC and CRF)
- Employ evidence-led approaches to diversity and inclusion (basing its approach to EDI on clear evidence from diversity data continually gathered across research activities)
- Collaborate with partners for impact and sustainability (strengthening its role within local, national and international networks, in achieving relevant, effective research outcomes and being influential advocates for EDI
“It was a privilege to work with NIHR Moorfields BRC and CRF team. They are doing incredible work in eye research and are very committed to EDI. The work of the strategy was to pull all their initiatives into one document, showing where they are innovative and what they need to do to move forward.”
Teresa Norman, Diversity Consultant, EW Group
The strategy was implemented in the summer of 2023 and the feedback received was very positive. Senior stakeholders commented that the strategy has given the NIHR Moorfields BRC and CRF a solid foundation for its EDI approach over the coming five years, creating a coherence to their EDI initiatives across the partner organisations and consolidating their work into a comprehensive plan.
We look forward to continuing our partnership with NIHR Moorfields infrastructure and supporting the innovative and life-changing research that they undertake.