Born in Bradford extends research with £3.5 million funding boost

The funding from the Medical Research Council and Economic and Social Research Council (Populations and Systems Medicine / General Population Science Boards) amounts to £3,576,155.

It is for a five year project to revisit all families recruited to the Born in Bradford study. From summer 2016 researchers will be able to collect updated data from mothers, fathers and all the BiB children to get a picture of their current health, education and well-being status.

This part of the BiB study will be jointly led by Prof Deborah Lawlor (University of Bristol) and Professor Kate Pickett (University of York). Co-Investigators include Professor Neil Small and Professor Mohamed Mohammed from the Faculty of Health Studies, University of Bradford.

Returning to the BiB participants nine years after their initial recruitment will allow the team to study changes over time, but will also provide rich data for further studies.

Professor Neil Small said: “Now ten years from the start of the Born in Bradford study we can see its increasing impact in the city and across the world. The new funding from the MRC and ESRC underlines how multidisciplinary the project is. It allows us to look at change in the more than 13,000 children we are following and include new areas of focus, how the children get on at school for example. BiB children can now be followed up into adolescence and beyond.

“It's an exciting time for our project team, for our partners in the city and beyond and for all the families whose participation has helped make this study one of the jewels in Bradford’s crown.”