Helping bring EDI to the forefront across a health and care institution
National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is the UK government’s primary funder of clinical, public health and social care research. Their mission is to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research. Bell has worked closely with NIHR since 2021 on several EDI initiatives with the ultimate objective of reducing health inequalities, by fostering an inclusive environment engaging the talents and energy of diverse people in all areas of their work and improving the relevance and quality of their research. Our initial brief in this area was for their first Diversity Data Report.
Our response
The first part of this project was the primary copy phase. After NIHR provided us with an interim report with all tables and footnotes, Bell lifted, consolidated and edited sections of that copy for the full report, combined with some original copywriting. This made up the key initial section of the report (before the presentation of full data). We then designed the full 59-page document as a segmented interactive PDF, following NIHR brand guidelines, broken down into sections on Applications for Funding, Application Outcomes, Award Holders and Selection Committees. All data was based on four characteristic categories – sex, age, disability and ethnicity.
We drew 58 key data charts and tables in a clean, consistent style to make the data as easy to digest as possible. These were accompanied by key highlights and explanatory text. Once completed, we did a cut down for a 29-slide PowerPoint presentation and also provided an accessible HTML version for their website. We also delivered the following year’s Diversity Data Report, and extended this to analyse RCT Participants (Randomised Controlled Trial Participants) with another 21-page interactive PDF.
Following the launch of this report, we became involved in the development of the first overarching NIHR EDI Strategy. We were an active member of the EDI steering group and project-managed the process internally at NIHR for several months. From this, we developed their Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2022-2027, a 21-page document with live links and original infographics which we designed, typeset and provided copy review, consolidation, editing and copywriting. We also transformed this into a 21-page PPT deck, a single-page top-line summary and assets for the launch.
What our client thought
“Working with the Bell Team was a great experience. We had a very short turnaround time and they really stepped up to support us. We quickly developed a co-production approach and they were really responsive to our comments and feedback. I really valued their advice and challenge in how we presented our data and the actions and commitment we wanted to convey. We will be continuing to work with the team.”
Caroline Magee, NIHR EDI Programme Board Member