History

The Health Foundation takes a strategic decision to build and promote knowledge on how to improve care

The Health Foundation has been supporting the development of improvement research as a field of study since 2009, with belief in its capacity to uncover how sustainable improvements can be made to patient care.

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The Health Foundation sets up the Improvement Science Development Group

The Improvement Science Development Group brings together experts in improvement science from all over the world. They come together twice a year to share their knowledge and develop the underpinning theories and methods for this new field.

The Health Foundation awards PhD studentships to centres of excellence

To support the long-term development of the improvement science field by UK research organisations, the Health Foundation awarded PhD funding to nine universitites in 2013 and a further four research organisations in 2015.

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The Health Foundation decides to create an improvement research institute

The Health Foundation announced it would create an improvement research institute to expand its fellowships and networks into an outstanding international centre of excellence.

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The University of Cambridge and its partners were chosen

The University of Cambridge was chosen to be the home of the new improvement research institute and started building the foundations of THIS Institute.

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‘How to improve healthcare improvement: an essay’ is published in BMJ

As improvement practice and research begin to come of age, Professor Mary Dixon-Woods, Director of THIS Institute, considers the key areas that need attention if we are to reap their benefits.

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