York academics to work on Born in Bradford research programme following major funding boost

Posted on Wednesday 7 May 2025

Building on success

The award will fund an ambitious eight-year long study aimed at addressing childhood health and wellbeing inequalities. It will build on the success of the Born in Bradford’s Better Start (BiBBS) project, an innovative early childhood study in the UK based within the Bradford Institute for Health Research at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Kate Pickett, Professor of Epidemiology at York and a member of the project’s executive board, said: “I'm delighted to be part of BiBBS Achieve alongside other colleagues from the University of York. This is an opportunity to discover more about the health, development and wellbeing of a unique cohort of children growing up against the background of the pandemic and the cost of living crisis, and this learning will have widespread relevance beyond Bradford."

The data from the combined Born in Bradford cohorts includes detailed health and wellbeing information on over 700,000 citizens living in Bradford and Airedale. Between 2016-2024, the Born in Bradford’s Better Start project recruited over 5,700 families and this new phase will extend the research to middle childhood, working closely with inner-city primary schools.

Partnerships

The new research will be carried out in partnership with local schools, families and health professionals, and involve more than 8,000 children and their families living in some of the city's most disadvantaged areas. By combining large-scale data with deep qualitative insights from families, the study aims to create an evidence base that can transform national policy and practice.

Josie Dickerson, Director of the BiBBS Achieve programme, said: “This award is a recognition of over a decade of commitment from families, service providers and researchers in Bradford. With Wellcome’s support, we can take a huge leap forward in understanding how to build a healthier, happier, and fairer future for children living in inner-city areas who face the greatest disadvantages.”

Among other things, the BiBBS Achieve will study how events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis have impacted children’s long-term health and development. It will also explore the longer-term impact of the Better Start Bradford early-years projects on children, and how these can be adapted to create a system of effective early years interventions to improve equity in modern urban environments.

Competitive

This major investment is a powerful endorsement of the vital work taking place in Bradford to promote health equity and improve life chances for children, and underlines the impact of Bradford as a city of research for health and social innovation. The Wellcome Discovery Award is one of the most competitive and respected research awards in the world, recognising bold, collaborative science with the potential to transform our understanding of health.

The insights made possible through the award will be able to inform the local authorities, health, education and voluntary sector providers across the Bradford district. It will further help in developing, implementing and evaluating ambitious programmes to improve population health.