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Centre for Reviews and Dissemination
HomeCentre for Reviews and DisseminationOur research

Our research

Ensuring that best available evidence is used to inform policy and practice.

Our specialisation as methodologists in all aspects of evidence synthesis enables us to work across a wide range of health areas to provide the best evidence to inform policy and practice decisions.

Our expertise in knowledge mobilisation ensures our research results are shared with patients, practitioners, and policy-makers to achieve maximum impact. The work we carry out spans a broad range of topics or ‘themes’ including child health, mental health, public health, and health technology assessments. 

The world leading research undertaken by CRD and our partners resulted in a top ten position for Public Health, Health Services and Primary Care in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework. We were placed 6th in the UK for research power in the Times Higher Education ranking of REF21 results, with over 92% of our research rated as world-leading (4*) for impact.

Professor Amanda Sowden, CRD Deputy Director

Research strengths and activities

We have a broad range of research strengths and activities. Our Health Technology Assessments (HTAs) determine the value and broader impact of health interventions. Our Evidence Synthesis Group (ESG) synthesizes evidence using objective and transparent methods to identify, evaluate and summarize all relevant research findings to inform the policy decision at hand. 

We are a world-leader in methodological development in evidence synthesis. Our knowledge mobilisation research maximizes the uptake and usefulness of research findings in practice.  

For each of these, you can find out more about our overall activities, project highlights, impact and latest publications.

Health Technology Assessment

Methodological development

Knowledge Mobilisation

Child Health

Mental Health

Public Health

Groups and programmes

Our research activities are commonly funded through programmes of collaborative work. Find out more about how these individual funded groups or programmes operate.

London York PRP Evidence Reviews Facility

Most of our systematic reviews are commissioned to inform practice or policy decisions. We address these important public health questions through working collaboratively with the Department of Health Policy Research Programme (PRP) funded Public Health Research Consortium and Policy Reviews Facility (PRF).

PRU - Public Health

As part of the NIHR Policy Research Unit in Public Health, we address important public health questions and most of our systematic reviews are commissioned to inform practice or policy decisions.

York Technology Assessment Group

York Technology Assessment Group is part of the NIHR Technology Assessment Reviews (TAR) programme. It enables rapid commissioning of Health Technology Assessments (HTAs) to respond to the urgent needs of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

York Evidence Synthesis Group

The York Evidence Synthesis Group programme funds research projects that identify, evaluate and combine data from existing research studies to provide best evidence. This includes the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of treatments, tests, and other interventions, to support decision-making across health, public health and social care in all four nations of the UK.

Our impact: Project spotlights

As you explore our research in more detail, wherever you see this type of section, you will be able to learn more about the impact of our work.

These 'Project spotlight' sections highlight latest findings, milestones and publications in the work that we do, sharing our knowledge mobilisation activities for individual projects and demonstrating the real-world impact that our work has on policy and practice.

Explore all of our published research outputs.