CHE co-hosts MEED research forum 2025

News

Posted on Friday 28 November 2025

The Methods for Economic Evaluation of Diagnostics, Digital, Data and Devices (MEED) Research Forum 2025, was held in York for the first time since its inception in 2018.

The (MEED) Research Forum was established to address the unique challenges in evaluating medical technologies beyond traditional pharmaceuticals.

Founded by health economists from leading UK universities, MEED has grown into a vital platform for researchers, industry professionals, and policymakers to collaborate on advancing evaluation methodologies.

Their mission is to foster innovation in health technology assessment, ensuring that new diagnostic tools, digital health solutions, and medical devices can demonstrate their value effectively within healthcare systems.

The research forum took place on the 20th November 2025 at the Milner hotel and brought together health economists, policymakers, and industry experts to discuss methodological developments that are needed to support the aims of the NHS 10 years plan. It was co-hosted and organised by the forum founding members, Alex Thompson (University of Manchester), Alison Smith (University of Leeds), Sean Gavan (University of Manchester), and Ana Duarte (CHE, University of York).

This year the forum took a different format adding a new interactive workshop dedicated to brainstorm solutions for key HealthTech evaluation challenges to the traditional programme. It also featured research presentations and a panel session. In this panel, Professor Bethany Shinkins (NICE/University of Warwick), Professor Neil Hawkins (University of Glasgow), Professor Katherine Payne (University of Manchester) and Dr Joy Allen (Roche Diagnostics) explored how health economists are shaping the future of HealthTech evaluation and adoption in the NHS.

We look forward to next year’s forum in Leeds and hope to build on the ideas discussed, continuing to define methodological research in this area.