Grand Round Webinar: General paediatric research incubator and prioritisation

Reviving General Paediatric Research

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) has scheduled a session on the General Paediatric Research Incubator and Prioritisation for March 2026, led by GAPRUKI chairs. GAPRUKI, the General and Adolescent Paediatric Research in the United Kingdom network, is driving efforts to strengthen research specifically in general paediatrics, a field that encompasses broad hospital and community care for children rather than narrow subspecialties.

Recent RCPCH initiatives highlight a push to address this imbalance. The College's broader research efforts, including priority-setting with stakeholders like the NIHR, have identified key areas such as safeguarding, obesity, mental health, and neurodevelopmental conditions, yet general paediatrics has historically received less dedicated funding and infrastructure compared to fields like oncology or cardiology.

This comes against a backdrop of deteriorating child health metrics. UK children face some of Europe's poorest outcomes, with persistent issues in vaccination uptake, rising cases of preventable diseases, and long waits for community services. The NHS 10-Year Health Plan emphasises prevention and community care, but child health often remains secondary to adult-focused priorities, exacerbating workforce strains and service gaps.

The incubator approach aims to foster new studies, collaborations, and funding bids in general paediatrics, where evidence gaps hinder progress on common conditions affecting large numbers of children. Tensions exist between subspecialty research, which attracts more resources due to its targeted nature, and general paediatrics, which deals with complex, multifaceted cases but struggles for equivalent attention. Inaction risks perpetuating under-researched interventions in everyday paediatric practice, potentially leading to higher long-term costs and poorer health trajectories for the current generation of children.

Recent developments include the launch of 2026 Research Awards to support early-career researchers and ongoing advocacy for workforce wellbeing through programmes like Thrive Paediatrics, underscoring the interconnectedness of research capacity and clinical delivery.