Institute in the Park

Alder Hey and the University of Liverpool officially opened the first phase of a dedicated research, education and innovation centre, ‘Institute in the Park’, in March 2016. 

The ‘Institute in the Park’ is a major catalyst for making a significant step change in children’s healthcare that will impact regionally, nationally and internationally. It brings together outstanding leadership and expertise in multi-disciplinary education, research and innovation, all focused together on improving the care and understanding of children and their health needs.

Practicing an open-innovation approach where people can collaborate freely, the Institute is occupied by academic researchers, healthcare professionals, technology companies, commercial research teams, students and educators.

The unique co-location of the Institute within one of Europe’s busiest children’s hospitals means that every child and all the healthcare professionals that care for them will have the opportunity to routinely participate in studies. Alder Hey’s young patients take immense pride in helping improve healthcare for others as well as themselves.

The ‘Institute in the Park’ is built on a solid foundation; it hosts part of the National Co-ordinating Centre of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network (CRN), responsible for all children’s research across the country and hosts national centres of excellence in research across many disciplines including childhood infections, respiratory disorders, cancer, neurodisability, international health, musculoskeletal diseases and the UK’s only Experimental Arthritis Treatment Centre for children. It also supports the outstanding NIHR Alder Hey Clinical Research Facility for studies of new treatment for children. Teams of biomedical researchers are searching for new better and safer medicines for children and developing new formulations of medicines especially for children.   

The ‘Institute in the Park’ also provides the perfect location for all Alder Hey’s teaching and training sessions, along with larger conferences and events, enabling Alder Hey to deliver exciting training opportunities to enhance the skills and knowledge of those looking after children and young people.  Alder Hey has an international reputation for educating paediatric clinicians of the future, with more than 500 medical and 400 nursing students a year. 

The University of Liverpool and Alder Hey Children’s Charity worked in close partnership to raise funding to build the first phase of the Institute. Donors and pledges include; the European Regional Development Fund, Liverpool City Council, Matalan, the Wolfson Foundation, the Garfield Weston Foundation, the Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust, The North West Coast Academic Health Science Network, Alumni and local supporters. 

A major fundraising campaign by Alder Hey Children’s Charity to complete phase two of the Institute in the Park is now underway.