SURE - 10 years of leading evidence-based research
7 January 2011
The Support Unit for Research Evidence (SURE) celebrated its 10th year of providing healthcare staff and policy makers with reliable, up-to-date evidence reviews in October 2010.
SURE was established in 2000 in Cardiff University's Information Services Directorate. The Unit originally worked on developing the Health Evidence Bulletins Wales (HEBW) project, which provided summaries of the best available evidence across a range of topic areas and were widely used in healthcare and policy development.
The past ten years have seen SURE grow in size and standing, and the team has built an excellent reputation for its work in evidence-based health and social science. During the last decade, staff in the Unit have co-authored 52 publications including 41 systematic reviews and been awarded around £2,000,000 in grant income.
SURE staff members have authored an extensive list of systematic evidence reviews, and work in partnership with other Cardiff University researchers on a range of projects.
They also teach evidence-based methodologies to students, researchers and health professionals within and beyond the University.
The Unit's work was celebrated in a specially-designed timeline exhibition that highlights SURE's achievements since its founding. This exhibition was officially launched during an evening reception attended by SURE collaborators and supporters from higher education, health, social and government sectors.
Among those celebrating SURE's success were the Chief Medical Officer for Wales, Dr Tony Jewell, a strong proponent of the role of systematic review work in underpinning policy development and a supporter of SURE's work in this area; Cardiff University's Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Elizabeth Treasure, who has co-authored a number of systematic reviews and worked closely with the Unit on a long-running oral health project; and Director of Libraries, Mrs Janet Peters.