Through partnerships with NHS trusts, healthcare providers, charities, local authorities and international organisations, we're helping to improve health and wellbeing at local, national and global scales.
These collaborations support healthier communities, strengthen healthcare services, expand access to innovative treatments and contribute to evidence-based policy and practice.
Partnerships strengthening the healthcare workforce
ARU works closely with NHS trusts, primary care providers, community health organisations and social care partners across the East of England to educate and develop the future healthcare workforce.
Through our School of Medicine, and our nursing, midwifery and allied health programmes, students gain extensive real-world experience through clinical placements in hospitals, GP practices, community services and specialist care settings. These partnerships ensure that teaching remains closely aligned with current professional practice and emerging healthcare priorities, while helping students develop the knowledge, skills and confidence needed to deliver high-quality patient care. ARU's Faculty of Health, Medicine and Social Care is the largest provider of health and social care education in the East of England, making a significant contribution to regional workforce development and supporting health services across the communities we serve.
Through these longstanding partnerships, we help address workforce shortages, improve the supply of skilled healthcare professionals, and strengthen the capacity of health and care services across the region. By combining academic excellence with practice-based learning, we support the delivery of healthcare education that benefits students, employers, patients and communities alike.
Partnerships improving healthcare and patient outcomes
We work with local, regional, national and international partners to improve health outcomes, expand access to healthcare innovation and influence health policy. Through partnerships with NHS organisations, charities, research institutes and government bodies, we contribute to healthier communities and more effective healthcare systems.
For example, we lead a consortium of 60 cross-sector partners to deliver the Clinical Entrepreneur Programme for NHS England and NHS Improvement. This is the world’s largest entrepreneurial training programme in healthcare, helping to transform patient care across the NHS. Supported by the programme, NHS clinicians have created 423 start-up companies, developed 551 innovations, secured £868.3 million pounds of funding and created over 2,850 jobs.
ARU also collaborates with the Vision Loss Expert Group on The Global Vision Database, to develop new evidence on the prevalence of blindness and vision impairment and its causes, on intervention coverage and to inform global programmes. Working with the World Health Organization, the Group has modelled the change in cause-specific prevalence of vision loss over time. Anglia Ruskin Clinical Trials Unit (ARCTU) is a research partnership between Anglia Ruskin University, NHS Trusts from Cambridgeshire, Essex and Hertfordshire, industry and international partners. Our NHS Trusts cover a patient population of over 3 million. Two tertiary centres increase the population served by through these partnerships to more than 10 million.
Supporting active lifestyles for our local communities
By opening our facilities to local residents and supporting community initiatives that encourage physical activity, we help to promote healthier and more active lifestyles.
Members of the general public are able to use our sports facilities and gyms in Chelmsford and Cambridge. We also run weekly Heart and Sole walks in Chelmsford in collaboration with Chelmsford City Council, encouraging local residents to take part in regular physical activity and connect with others in their community. We also have a small number of schools and local clubs use our facilities in Chelmsford such as Chelmsford County High School and Chelmsford Karate Club as well as hosting tournaments for Chelmsford and District Table Tennis League. ARU staff have also taken active roles in engaging with local primary and secondary schools, where either the staff visited the schools to give lectures about health, or the schoolchildren were invited to visit our research facilities.
Community outreach and healthcare services
Our optometry and ophthalmic students provide care to the community through our Eye Clinic. We are one of the few universities in the UK to offer this service, open to everyone including private and NHS patients.
ARU's Cambridge Institute for Music Therapy Research (CIMTR) is one of the world's leading centres for music therapy research and was recognised with a Queen's Anniversary Prize in 2021 for its internationally significant work supporting people living with dementia and their families. It runs a Music Therapy Clinic to support the local community, including providing music therapy for people with dementia and their carers.
In 2021-22, we instituted a collaboration with Cambridge and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT), with the creation of a new joint research nurse lead post at the Trust’s Windsor Research Unit. This will help bring opportunities for local healthcare professionals and increase access to cutting-edge treatments.
In 2022, we teamed up with Samaritans, the leading suicide prevention charity, to pilot a new on-campus duty room – the first of its kind in the UK – delivering digital-only support to anyone struggling to cope. This formal partnership concluded in 2025; during its lifetime, it made a real difference. Together, 77 ARU volunteers have supported over 4000 people by online chat and over the phone.
Last updated: October 2026
To request additions, corrections or changes to the information in these pages, please contact: Dr Zareen Bharucha: [email protected]. Please use the subject line ‘ARU SDG’.