Research

We place huge emphasis on research because it is a necessary foundation for gold-standard healthcare. And because our heart beats for detainees, we are primarily concerned with research about offender healthcare. Compared with what is known about healthcare for non-offender populations, there is a relative dearth of clinical research into offender healthcare - especially within Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs).

Because those from other vulnerable patient groups are more likely than the rest of the population to end up behind bars, we are also interested in research about the needs behind bars for those who have addictions, were homeless, have mental illness, are asylum seekers or refugees, have do sex work, have been trafficked or who were looked-after children.

Our research service has three arms - partnership research, internal research, and a research catalogue.

partnerships

2017’s Leeds BSc & MSc researchers (front row) partnering with clinicians at our smaller Philippines base — *BSc & MSc students (front row) in 2017 partnering with our clinicians in the Philippines*

Read about our partnership research programmes

institutions

We welcome enquiries from institutions or individuals who wish to partner with us. Our research relationship with the University of Leeds (UoL) dates back to 2014. We partner with them in research projects up to and including MSc level.

medical student research

The Extended Student Research and Evaluation Project (ESREP) is a core part of UoL’s undergraduate medical programme, aimed at providing medical students with the opportunity to acquire, develop, and apply research and evaluation skills.

Up until the pandemic, we hosted a steady stream of ESREP students. Then the pandemic forced a short break. In 2022-2023 we are pleased to be hosting a student who is investigating the diagnostic burden of our offender healthcare service.

International Health Research

UoL’s International Health programme is an extremely popular BSc intercalation option for healthcare students training in the UK. Its MSc programme is also highly regarded. We have hosted more than 20 BSc and MSc students who have done incredible field research for us, mainly from our base in the Philippines.