To support the English Department of Health's AHSC competition in 2013, RAND Europe has analysed various types of publicly available data and quality assessments in the domains of medical research and health education. The analysis presented in this report is intended to assist potential applicants in deciding whether to submit a pre-qualifying questionnaire as part of the procurement process, and subsequently to inform the deliberations of the selection panel for the AHSCs.
As a method for awarding research funding, peer review suffers from many drawbacks and yet is by far the most commonly used method to make funding decisions. RAND Europe revised and updated its pack of Alternatives to Peer Review to inspire funders to practise and test alternative methods for picking research winners.
Breakthrough Breast Cancer, a UK-based research charity, commissioned RAND Europe to conduct a study to determine the future outlook for breast cancer. This work informed the development of Breakthrough’s future strategic direction, helping them to achieve the best possible outcomes for people affected by breast cancer.
When it comes to European postal services, it is clear that different market segments have different needs. RAND Europe, in conjunction with Accent and Swiss Economics, undertook a study for the European Commission to help identify consumer needs in relation to postal services. Among the conclusions: big business valued letter services more than did small and medium enterprises or the public, whereas all consumers valued parcel services as well as high levels of reliability and low levels of loss. The research was conducted using stated preference experiments in three countries.
The Health Foundation encourages quality improvement by changing the relationships between people and health services. The evidence of how such interventions improve the quality of care is unfortunately patchy and sometimes contradictory, however, and there is therefore a need to better understand the mechanisms underlying interventions and to make explicit assumptions about how they are expected to change outcomes.
The Excellence in Innovation for Australia (EIA) Impact Assessment Trial aimed to assess the non-academic impact of research generated by a subset of Australian universities, and act as a pilot for a potential companion piece to the next Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA), a nationwide performance assessment of Australian universities. RAND Europe's evaluation of the Trial found it to be a successful process, but identified a number of areas of improvement, especially if it is scaled up to a national level.
To provide "further analysis on the EU illicit drugs market and responses to it", RAND, Trimbos Institute and the Institute for Criminal Policy Research conducted a follow-up to the 2009 EC-supported report on global illicit drug markets. RAND and its partners provide analysis on a range of issues including the flexibility of illicit drug suppliers to move in and out of other illegal markets and the costs of producing and trafficking cannabis in the EU
RAND Europe explored the effectiveness of the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) program in reducing the re-offending potential of UK terrorist offenders. The team explored potential for multi-agency information sharing and assessed risk of terrorist offenders under MAPPA supervision. Results evaluated the program’s effectiveness and established methods of measuring ongoing success.
How do governments characterise cyber-threats? What role does law enforcement play in tackling cyber-crime in different countries? These are some of the questions RAND Europe investigated on behalf of the Swedish National Defence College’s Center for Asymmetric Threat Studies (CATS) as part of a rapid comparative analysis of the integration of cyber-security within national and transnational defence and security frameworks. This study supports CATS in their assignment to gather evidence to inform the development of the Swedish Cyber Security Strategy.
Hepatitis C is a leading cause of chronic liver disease, end-stage cirrhosis and liver cancer. To contribute to better understanding of the burden associated with HCV infection in the UK, RAND Europe estimated the prevalence and the number of deaths that can be attributed to HCV-infection and assessed the healthcare and societal costs that are associated with HCV infection under different scenarios of diagnosis and treatment rates. The findings suggest that increasing treatment rates of those with HCV infection is associated with a gain in productivity.
The sharing and exchange of information between Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) and the law enforcement community in Europe face several legal and operational barriers. A range of factors can hinder information exchange, including the different character of each community, different objectives and ways of working. Concrete efforts to foster greater trust include sharing information on capabilities and services offered. RAND Europe offers recommendations both for CERTs and law enforcement and also for policy-makers in Brussels.
RAND Europe provided a forward-looking investigation of the modernisation of Asian navies for the French Ministry of Defence. Conducted with research partners in India and Japan, the report’s findings produced rigorous futures forecasting to inform the ongoing decision-making of Western naval forces.
RAND Europe provided the European Parliament's Committee on Industry, Research and Energy with a rapid assessment of the innovation and competitiveness impacts of the EU's proposed General Data Protection Regulation affecting: automated processing; control of data processing; and data transfers. The briefing considers a variety of perspectives—profiling; big data; cloud computing; and privacy-friendly technologies—and identifies a variety of impacts and areas for improvement.
The growth of the internet as a tool for engagement between individuals means it has also become an increasingly important 'space' for business innovation. There is a demand for, and market in, information; and there are concerns to protect personal data. RAND Europe led a consortium, commissioned by the European Parliament, to study these issues and related policies. The study explores ways to promote internet-based innovation and competition in the EU while respecting citizens' right to privacy.
The UK Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) was interested in understanding the effectiveness of interventions designed to change energy use behaviour in the home. They commissioned RAND Europe to assess the state of knowledge about “what works”, by systematically reviewing previous trials and initiatives, drawing on evidence from the UK and abroad. This review has informed DECC’s November 2012 Energy Efficiency Strategy, which sets out their policy direction for decades to come.
RAND Europe completed the third phase of a study of high-speed rail options in Norway. Analysis done as part of the earlier phases provided initial insight in to the likely levels of demand, and the new phase provided a fuller analysis of the demand on different strategic routes to inform the decisions to be taken by the Norwegian government about high-speed rail options in the country.
The Dutch National Security Strategy utilizes a risk assessment model to protect society and civilians within its territory from internal and external threats. RAND Europe examined the validity of the preference profiles and associated weighting used in the analysis of the Dutch National Risk Assessment. The report provides advice and recommendations to the Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice on which method is most suitable and on how best to reflect the views of the public in the National Risk Assessment.
The UK government today announced plans to spend £600 million for scientific research, in part as a means for promoting economic growth. Evidence provided by research findings in a 2008 study by RAND Europe, the Health Economics Research Group at Brunel University, and the Office of Health Economics suggests that the proposal could lead to a good return on investment. The study estimated that the health and GDP gains from UK public and charitable investments in cardiovascular disease research is equivalent to an annual rate of return of around 39%.
Adolescents in the Netherlands and the UK are more exposed to television alcohol advertising than adults, according to RAND Europe research, an effect not seen in Germany. The study looked at exposure to alcohol advertising and content of televised adverts in these three countries. An exploration of online alcohol marketing in the UK found high potential for adolescent exposure to alcohol marketing through social media websites.
Conditional cash transfer programmes (CCTs) are seen as particularly effective in low- and middle-income countries, but relatively little is known about the interface between the supply of services and programme administration and specific human development outcomes. RAND Europe assessed the effectiveness of CCTs through a two-year grant from UK Economic Social Research Council and Department for International Development.
The Humanitarian Centre and its partners released its 2012 Cambridge International Development Report,
Partnerships for global health: pathways to progress; RAND Europe researchers Sonja Marjanovic and Emma Pitchforth, among others, supported this effort and contributed to the report. RAND Europe looks forward to continuing its relationship with the Centre in 2013, as their focus turns toward poverty and sustainability.
Analysis of data collected in the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks finds that establishments on the whole appear to be taking systemic approaches to the management of psychosocial risks. The size of establishment and country are the strongest determinants of the scope of managing these risks, but management of psychosocial risks in European establishments appears to lag behind the management of general occupational safety and health risks.
To inform a Danish government review of service provision, RAND conducted a benchmarking study of European fire and rescue services. The research analysed developments in European fire and rescue since 2000; highlighted limitations in international fire statistics; and provided data-rich Scottish, Dutch and German case studies to provide valuable analysis of procurement, training and civil contingencies regimes.
Governments in the UK have attempted to establish quality improvements, but new procedures have often fostered ill feeling and may have encouraged the opposite behaviour. RAND Europe evaluated the outcomes of a major study on how to engage clinicians in different disciplines in improving the quality of the healthcare they provide; the result is the UK's most extensive systematic body of evidence on engaging clinicians in quality improvement.
The field of personalised or stratified medicine is evolving alongside the formation of a plethora of public-private partnerships. Such collaborations are at the core of the set of new life sciences policies in the UK, but the rationale and basis for collaboration remains unclear and there is little indication in policy documents of clear boundaries for them. An article in the journal
New Biotechnology discusses some of the drivers and dynamics of these collaborations.
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