UKRI MRC National Musculoskeletal Ageing Network: strategic prioritisation to increase healthy lifespan and minimise physical frailty

The UKRI Medical Research Council National Musculoskeletal Ageing Network (Director: Professor Cyrus Cooper and Deputy-Director: Professor Nicholas Harvey) brings together, over a 2-year period, key UKRI MRC investments in musculoskeletal research: the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre, MRC-Versus Arthritis Centre for Integrated Research in Musculoskeletal Ageing (CIMA), MRC-Versus Arthritis Centre for Musculoskeletal Ageing Research (CMAR), MRC Epidemiology Unit, MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, and MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing. Together, these span the Universities of Southampton, Sheffield, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham, Birmingham, Oxford, Bristol, Cambridge, and UCL, with further links to associated NIHR Biomedical Research Centres. This multidisciplinary collaboration will underpin a step change in musculoskeletal ageing research capacity and strategy (principally across the diseases osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, sarcopenia, and rheumatoid arthritis) by identifying key tractable research priorities; developing an integrated multidisciplinary and diversified technology partnership to address the identified research gaps; providing a platform to disseminate best practice; supporting early and mid-career researchers to build research capacity and develop technical expertise to ensure longevity to current UKRI investments; prosecuting an ongoing programme of innovative studies from discovery science to clinical impact.In this editorial, we briefly set out perspectives on the current landscape and identify research priorities fundamental to achieving healthy musculoskeletal ageing, as articulated and agreed at a scoping workshop of the Network held at the Academy of Medical Sciences, London, UK, on June 17, 2022