About Us

Evidence & Learning for Health is Ealing's Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC) – a partnership between Ealing Council, local community groups, and universities. We're funded for 5 years by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), alongside 30 other HDRCs across the UK.

We support the council and its partners to improve health and wellbeing fairly for local people. We do this by using research and evaluation tools, and by working collaboratively to gather better evidence to understand and tackle health inequalities.

What we learn will help the council improve its policies, practices and services – especially for people who face the biggest challenges – making our borough a fairer place to live.

See our vision
Meet our collaboration
Meet our team
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Why do we 
need HDRCs?

Being healthy is more than not being sick. It means feeling good in our body and mind, and with other people, as well as having a sense of control and purpose in life.

Having a safe home, a good job, a good education, green spaces to enjoy, and feeling part of a community are all important for our health.

These everyday things are called health determinants or the building blocks of health. They form the conditions in which we are born, grow, live, work and age and we all need them to live happy, healthy lives. 

Read more about the building blocks of health

But in the London Borough of Ealing, not everyone has the same opportunities or resources to access these things. Some people face more challenges than others, and this can lead to unfair differences in health. These are called health inequalities, where some communities live shorter lives and have more health problems. 

Thankfully, many people are already working to fix these unfair health gaps. 

But there are some challenges…

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  • university researchers are experts in gathering and studying information to solve problems. But sometimes, they can feel too removed from the communities they want to help

  • council teams do important work to improve housing, schools, and neighbourhoods. But they don’t always have the resources to check what’s working or what’s not
  • local people often aren’t included in these activities, even though they know the issues best


HDRCs are important because they bring universities, council teams and local people together so the right people, with the right knowledge, can help councils use research to make better decisions.