Public Funding for Research | NIHR Funding Opportunities

NIHR Funding Opportunities

The NIHR commission and fund NHS and Social Care research that is essential for delivering our responsibilities in public health and personal social services. Their key objective is to improve the quality, relevance, and focus of research in the NHS and social care by distributing funds in a transparent way after open competition and peer review.

Detailed below are the various funding streams that are open to researchers via the NIHR:

Up to date information on current open calls is available from the R&D News Bulletin. Further details on each of the streams is also available on the NIHR Website.

In addition to which the following Innovations Pathway Diagram, showing how the various funding streams fit on a spectrum frojm basic research through to implementaion, may be of use: NIHR Innovations Pathway.

Research for Patient Benefit Programme Grants

The Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) Programme funding scheme has been established to provide high quality research that will be of direct benefit to users of the NHS in England. Applications will be considered by one of ten Regional Funding Committees (RFCs) and proposals relating to health service challenges, regionally or locally, will be particularly welcome. As a responsive rather than a commissioning programme, RfPB does not seek to name specific topic areas and welcomes applications on a wide range of issues.

RfPB Project grants will be awarded on the basis of up to 3 years duration with a total maximum cost of £250k including overheads. These grants can be used to fund pilot studies, feasibility studies, meta-analysis and modelling studies.

Funds will be available on a population basis. Applications will be assessed and processed by a regional committee. Committees covering each of the ten Government Office regions have been established. Professor Celia Davies, National Programme Director oversees the Programme.

Applications are accepted at any time and will be considered at the next available Regional Committee. All researchers in England are eligible to apply. Joint applications from NHS researchers with academic partners are welcome although funding will normally be awarded to the NHS partner. Researchers may find it helpful to consult the feedback provided by the Director of the Programme, if they intend to apply for future competitions.

Potential applicants should visit the programme website for news and for the most up-to-date information before submitting an application.

Applied Research Programme Grants

Programme Grants for Applied Research are prestigious awards of up to £2m over a period of three to five years, the aim of which is to:

Provide evidence to improve health outcomes in England through promotion of health, prevention of ill health, and optimal disease management (including safety and quality), with particular emphasis on conditions causing significant disease burden, where other research funders may not be focused, or there is insufficient funding available;
Enable NHS trusts to tackle areas of high priority or need for health;
Provide some stability of funding to support the long-term development of top quality applied research groups working in the NHS; and/ or
Replace, in part, programmes of research currently supported by the Priorities and Needs (PNF) component of NHS R&D Support Funding for NHS Providers.

Awards are made where there is potential gain for patients within the relatively near future. They are not intended to support basic research or experimental medicine.

The first competition was limited to research areas in Mental Health, Medicines for Children, Diabetes, Stroke and Dementias, neurodegenerative diseases and neurology. These areas were chosen because they are government priorities where other research funders may not be focused, or there is insufficient funding available. In subsequent competitions, we will accept outline applications in all areas of research. A total of 29 applications were selected by an expert peer review selection panel to receive an award in the first funding round. A further 25 applications were selected by an expert selection panel to receive an award in the second funding round. BLT has to date secured 4 awards.

Researchers may find it helpful to consult the feedback provided by the Director of the Programme on the applications for the first and second funding round, if they intend to apply for future competitions. The Director has also provided comments on the outline applications submitted in the second competition.

The Invention for Innovation Research Programme

The Invention for Innovation Programme brings together the work of several smaller programmes with a new investment stream. The Programme will help accelerate the take-up and use of proven new treatments and devices by the NHS.

The programmes incorporated into the Invention for Innovation (i4i) Programme are:

The New and Emerging Applications of Technology (NEAT) Programme, which funds research into the use of new or emerging technologies to develop health care products and interventions that improve the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of health and social care

The Health Technology Devices (HTD) Programme which funds research into new medical devices and technologies that will help people and patients towards independence of health and social care

The Challenge Fund for Innovation, a new Programme that promotes the uptake of health research and developments into use in the NHS.

The Department of Health is also co-sponsoring Assisted Living Innovation Platform (ALIP) as a part of the NIHR Invention for Innovation Research Programme. ALIP is managed by the Technology Strategy Board and aims to make significant advances in the technology needed to enable people who suffer from chronic long term conditions to live independently

Research for Innovation, Speculation and Creativity (RISC) Programme

The RISC programme, provides small, discrete grants for new speculative and radical health research proposals that could lead to a step change in the care and management of patients. RISC awards are intended particularly for speculative, novel proposals that are unlikely to gain support during traditional peer review processes.

All researchers based in the NHS in England are eligible to apply. Joint applications from NHS researchers with academic partners as co-applicants are welcome.

The Policy Research Programme

The Policy Research Programme (PRP) is a Department of Health programme. It commissions a broad range of health and social care research to meet the needs identified by the Department and its Ministers in the course of policy development work. The PRP has an annual budget of £32.5 million. This programme provides the evidence base for health and social care policy development. Commissioned programmes are contracted and administered by the NIHR Central Commissioning Facility.