Digital Health
This theme focuses on how digital technologies can help people live healthier lives, improve health and social care services, and reduce health inequities. The UK government has prioritised the shift from analogue to digital methods of health monitoring and care delivery, recognising it as essential to reducing pressure on the National Health Service (NHS) and ensuring its long-term sustainability.
In line with this priority, digital health research at Manchester covers the following key areas across a range of health conditions such as cancer, heart disease, musculoskeletal disorders and serious mental illness:
- Algorithms, epidemiology and AI-driven methods; we develop methods for analysing different types of structured data, such as electronic health records, patient-generated data and genetic information, to better predict how patients will respond to treatments and support more personalised care.
- Health and care text mining; using natural language processing, we extract insights from unstructured text, such as clinical notes and patient posts on social media, to inform timely clinical decisions and help people manage their own health better.
- Connected and remote health technologies; we design and evaluate tools (for example, biosensors, smartphone apps and medical devices), for use in clinical settings, behaviour change programmes, learning health systems and research platforms.
- Ethics, community engagement, and health equity; we explore public attitudes to the use of digital technology and data for health and care, co-design digital tools with diverse and underserved communities, and study how digital health affects and could improve equity in health care access and outcomes across groups.
The University of Manchester is a recognised global leader in digital health research, based at the heart of one of the UK’s strongest digital health regions. The Health theme aims to build on this strength by connecting researchers from across the University working in areas such as health sciences, medicine, informatics, engineering and social and data sciences. It supports them to work closely with key University initiatives, such as the Christabel Pankhurst Institute and the NIHR Greater Manchester Applied Research Collaboration, as well as with NHS, local council and industry partners. Through these multi-disciplinary and cross-sector partnerships, the Health theme drives digital health solutions that are inclusive and trustworthy, and that tackle real-world problems in prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care.
Networks
Manchester Connected Health Ecosystem
Bringing together academic researchers, industry partners, and health and social care providers from across the NHS, public health and local government.
Christabel Pankhurst Institute
This partnership between the University, NHS, business and local government will form an important part of the Greater Manchester health innovation ecosystem.