The Embedded Economist intervention has two components that should be integrated together, although both are capable of separate delivery. The components are: a) education and b) an economist in residence program.

The education intervention will consist of a curriculum of stackable learning modules in economic evaluation, statistical modelling, simulation modelling, qualitative evaluation and decision-making in healthcare. The learning module will be a mix of professional development short courses (that can be amalgamated into a graduate certificate subject), graduate certificate subjects, and placements. The education intervention will be a collaboration between the University of Newcastle (as education providers) and HMRI (as content experts).

The economist in residence program will be based on the placement of an economist within health services. On activation of the project, a seminar will be delivered to health service managers to outline the spectrum of potential help provided by health economists and the factors to consider when deciding how best to in involve them in healthcare research. This information will be used to co-design a program of placement work that will be undertaken over a 4-month period.

The intervention will be evaluated using a mixed methods approach and be informed by multiple data sources for triangulation. In terms of the theoretical approach to the research, actor-network (ANT) theory is proposed as the dominant lens for analysis of the individual longitudinal case studies created at each health service.