Tackling local health inequalities in Clifton and Mansfield through community-based exercise social prescribing interventions – Collaboratory Research Hub 2027 PhD Studentship

Many people referred through NHS Social Prescribing services want to improve their health but face barriers such as low confidence, long-term health conditions, mobility difficulties, or anxiety about joining community groups. These challenges can prevent participation in activities that support physical activity, independence, and social connection, leading to worsening health and increased demand on NHS and social care services.

This PhD is grounded in priorities identified in Clifton and Mansfield, alongside evidence of need across the Meadows, where mid-to-older age adults are more at risk of increased frailty, social isolation, poor health outcomes and premature mortality, due to these areas being historically deprived. Across Nottingham City, including Clifton and the Meadows, 65.4% of adults are physically active and 71.8% are classified as overweight or obese, compared with national figures of 68.0% and 64.6%, respectively; Mansfield shows a similar pattern, with 63.4% of adults physically active and 69.6% overweight or obese (OHID, 2026).

This PhD will build on the NTU Sport and Wellbeing Academy (SAWA), a free, NHS-linked 12-week programme that helps participants build confidence, improve physical function, reduce loneliness, and prepare for longer-term community activity. Trained staff and university students deliver sessions in a supportive environment. Since October 2023, over 370 participants and 440 students have taken part in the university-based programme. Early findings indicate healthier lifestyle choices, improved strength and blood pressure, increased confidence and social connectedness, and reduced loneliness. Participants describe SAWA as safe, welcoming and accessible for people new to exercise. However, patient and public involvement activities identified reluctance to attend sessions on the university campus, despite free parking and transport. In response, Nottingham City Council and local partners have agreed to provide community leisure facilities free of charge, enabling SAWA to be delivered closer to where people live.

Working in Clifton and Mansfield, the PhD will evaluate whether this community-based university-NHS-local authority partnership improves access for underserved communities, supports earlier engagement in physical activity and helps participants maintain their health and independence. It will also assess how effectively the model can be implemented and integrated into local social prescribing pathways. By strengthening preventive support, the model has the longer-term potential to reduce demand on health and social care services. Physical function, wellbeing, and confidence will be assessed at the start and end of the programme, and at 3-, 6- and 12-month follow-ups to examine whether benefits are sustained. Alongside this, anonymised data from the existing university-based programme will be compared with data from community-based delivery to explore differences in participant reach and profile, uptake, attendance, engagement and programme completion between settings. Interviews with participants, NHS link workers, GPs, and delivery partners will explore barriers and facilitators to engagement and identify the partnership arrangements and resources needed to sustain the model.

The PhD will produce locally relevant evidence to support the continued development of SAWA and inform how university, NHS, local authority and community partners can work together to provide accessible physical activity and health support through social prescribing.

This project has been co-created with and is supervised by researchers from Nottingham Trent University, the University of Nottingham, and partners at Nottingham City Council. The successful candidate for this project will be enrolled at Nottingham Trent University.

Project Aims and Objectives

The work of this PhD aims to:

• Evaluate the effectiveness of community-based SAWA by assessing changes in physical function, social connectedness, psychological wellbeing, self-management, social prescribing (SP) engagement at programme completion and 3-, 6- and 12-month follow-ups, and explore the implications for longer-term health and social care use. We will recruit 240 NHS-referred SP participants across two demographically distinct sites (Clifton and Mansfield). Evaluation will include: i) a quantitative assessment of physiological outcomes and cardiometabolic health markers; and ii) a qualitative assessment of adherence, programme continuation, confidence, anxiety, and healthy habit formation.

• Compare participant reach and profile, programme uptake, attendance, engagement and completion between university-based and community-based SAWA delivery.

• Examine the barriers and facilitators influencing participant engagement and the implementation and integration of community-based SAWA within local social prescribing pathways and identify the resources and partnership arrangements required for sustainable delivery.

What is Collaboratory?

Collaboratory is a pioneering research programme, led by Universities for Nottingham and the Leicester Universities Partnership, that places community knowledge and experience at the heart of research. This eight-year initiative is pioneering a new approach to collaboration, working closely with local communities and community-focused organisations to develop and deliver research that addresses the needs and priorities of local communities.

Supervisors