Professor Peter Van der Graaf

Professor

School: Healthcare and Nursing Sciences

Peter is a Professor in Public Health and Knowledge Mobilisation in the School of Nursing and Healthcare Studies with over 25 years of experience in applied health research and collaborative research partnerships in the UK and the Netherlands, involving local government, academia, and voluntary & community sector organisations.

He co-leads the NIHR Public Health Intervention Responsive Studies Team (PHIRST) Fusion, co-producing timely and accessible evaluations of public health interventions with local authorities, and facilitating development and implementation of interventions.

He is also Knowledge Mobilisation Lead for the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) for the North East and North Cumbria (NENC), co-leading a team of Knowledge Mobilisation Fellows to implement research evidence into the decision making of the Integrated Care System in the region.

As Associate Director for Fuse, the Centre for Translational Research in Public, he developed and managed the innovative AskFuse service, which has brokered over 500 collaborative research projects between academics and policy & practice partners in the North East of England and beyond.

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Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Peter is interested in the interface between research, practice and policy making and how this interface facilitates (or hinders) social improvement processes at local, regional, national and international levels. He conducts research on knowledge mobilisation in public health, with a focus on the wider determinants of health (e.g. housing, health landscapes, urban regeneration) and how they affect people's health and wellbeing.

Key Publications

Identifying General Practice workforce patterns in England: a machine learning to support Evidence-Based health and social care policy, Erfani, G., Burford, B., Montgomery, A., Bhattarai, N., Hoverd, E., Chen, K., Brown, M., Steven, A., Vance, G., Tomietto, M., Park, S., Lievesley, M., Van der Graaf, P., Rapley, T. 18 Jun 2026, International Scientific Conference “The Quality of Health Care and Social Welfare – Education and Practice”. 14.05.2026–15.05.2026, Jūrmala, Latvia. Scientific Abstracts and Articles, University of Latvia
3171 Better mealtimes for people living with dementia in care homes: a feasibility study, Faraday, J., Van der Graaf, P., Hand, A. 4 Jul 2025, In: Age and Ageing
Better mealtimes for people living with dementia: Results from a feasibility study, Faraday, J., McCarthy, A., der Graaf, P., Hand, A. Dec 2025, In: Alzheimer's and Dementia
Co-Producing Personalised Discharge Planning: Developing a Toolkit to Improve Caregiver Involvement in Hospital Transitions, McEwan, K., Sanders, T., Carr, S., Van der Graaf, P., Jones, S., Aquino, M., Hogg, M., Hameed, R., Lai, F., Cooper, C., Potthoff, S. 1 Dec 2025, In: Health Expectations : an International Journal of Public Participation in Health Care and Health Policy
Developing and implementing whole systems approaches to reduce inequalities in childhood obesity: A mixed methods study in Dundee, Scotland, Van der Graaf, P., Subramanian, M., Gillespie, J., Passey, A., Chng, N., Lake, A., Moore, H. 1 Jun 2025, In: Public Health in Practice
Developing an online knowledge sharing platform and community of practice for health professionals: Experiences from C-WorKS developed in North East England and Yorkshire during COVID-19, Van der Graaf, P., Burrows, A., Park, H., Sowden, S. 1 Jun 2025, In: Health Information and Libraries Journal
Improving local authority financial support services for users with complex health needs: a mixed-method economic evaluation of Social Navigators in South Tyneside, UK, Van der Graaf, P., McCarthy, A., Subramanian, M., Arnott, B., Samarakoon, D., Lee, S., Gray, J., Bate, A. 2025, In: BMJ Open Quality
P348 Current dietetic practices in managing pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy across the United Kingdom, Elliott, P., Van der Graaf, P., Tomietto, M., Brodlie, M., Haq, I. Jun 2025, In: Journal of Cystic Fibrosis
The benefits for health care staff of involvement in applied health research: a scoping review, Hanbury, A., Parker, E., Lawton, R., Marran, J., Schofield, J., Cave, L., McVey, L., Eyers, E., Van der Graaf, P., Kislov, R. 18 Aug 2025, In: Health Research Policy and Systems
Implementing creative dance activities for primary school children to improve health and wellbeing: a qualitative study in the North East England, Van der Graaf, P., Azevedo, L., El-Zerbi, C., Landindome, P., Watson, P. 2024, In: Perspectives in Public Health

Current and Recent Projects

Police involvement in interagency crisis mental health first response pathways in England: A realist and cost consequence analysis (PIONEER-MH), Clibbens, N. (Principal Investigator), Van der Graaf, P. (Co Investigator), National Institute for Health Research, 01/04/25 - 30/11/27, £781,508.00
Developing an NIHR Health and Social care Delivery Research (HSDR) national evaluation team: InterDisciplinary Evaluation of complex innovations in heAlth and Social care (IDEAS) Centre, Bate, A. (Principal Investigator), Van der Graaf, P. (Co Investigator), National Institute for Health Research, 01/02/25 - 31/01/30, £3,028,752.00

Professional Activity

Invited talk: Knowledge mobilisation: experiences beyond the East 2025
Membership of committee: NIHR & Department of Health (External organisation) 2024
Membership of board: University of Nottingham (External organisation) 2024
Membership of board: Fuse (External organisation) 2024
Hosting an academic visitor: Ien van de Goor 2023
Membership of board: Gateshead Council (External organisation) 2023
Invited talk: Chair Organising Committee 2022
Invited talk: Learning from Setbacks and Successes in Knowledge Exchange in Public Health 2021
Membership of committee: Health Research Board Ireland (External organisation) 2018
Membership of board: NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North East and North Cumbria (External organisation) 2018

PGR Supervision

Paige Elliott Managing pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy in children with cystic fibrosis in the highly effective modulator era. Start Date: 01/10/2023
Philip Mordue Understanding the blurred boundaries between policy, practice and knowledge: A realist study of the application of knowledge mobilisation strategies within collaborative research partnerships Start Date: 01/10/2025
Ruth Muscat ??Healthcare library and knowledge professionals as knowledge mobilisers: a mixed methods study? ??Healthcare library and knowledge professionals as knowledge mobilisers: a mixed methods study? Start Date: 11/07/2022

Qualifications