Research Funding Opportunities
You may be considering undertaking research yourself, perhaps for the first time as a master’s degree or a PhD, or maybe as a principal investigator on a funded research study. Wherever you are in your career, there are opportunities to apply for funding to support your development as a researcher.
The NIHR provides a huge range of funding opportunities for researchers undertaking studies centred on England but collaborating closely with the administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The Integrated Clinical Academic (ICA) Programme is open to health visitors at different career stages – funded by Health Education England but managed by NIHR.
The ICA Programme comprises four schemes that each support individuals at different stages of their research career:
- HEE Internship Scheme
- HEE/NIHR Pre-doctoral Clinical and Practitioner Academic Fellowship (PCAF) Scheme
- HEE/NIHR Doctoral Clinical and Practitioner Academic Fellowship (DCAF) Scheme
- HEE/NIHR Advanced Clinical and Practitioner Academic Fellowship (ACAF) Scheme
In addition, doctoral and post-doctoral award holders can access funded career mentorship through the ICA Programme’s bespoke Mentorship Scheme.
The programme also offers short duration Bridging Awards, which support development of doctoral or post-doctoral award applications.
The NIHR Local Authority Academic Fellowship Programme is open to Local Authority and LA commissioned service staff, which includes health visitors.
The training opportunities include four schemes:
- Local Authority Short Placement Award for Research Collaboration (LA SPARC) Scheme
- LAAF Programme Pre-Doctoral Local Authority Fellowship (PLAF) Scheme
- LAAF Programme Doctoral Local Authority Fellowship (DLAF) Scheme
- LAAF Programme Advanced Local Authority Fellowship (ALAF) Scheme
The NIHR Fellowship Programme supports individuals on their trajectory to becoming future leaders in health and social care NIHR research. The fellowships support individuals at various points of their development, from initial pre-doctoral training to senior post-doctoral research.
The programme includes four schemes:
- Pre-Doctoral Fellowship launch date: Late January / February annually
- Development and Skills Enhancement Award launch dates: January, May, September annually
- Doctoral Fellowship launch dates: April, October annually
- Advanced Fellowship launch dates: April, October annually
The capacity of NHS clinicians to undertake research is an important area in supporting an increase in research activity in Scotland. There are a range of fellowships available:
- NRS Career Researcher Fellowships: The NRS Career Researcher scheme was launched in 2011 to support NHS-funded clinical staff in developing a research career within their NHS post.
- CSO Clinical Academic Fellowships: The scheme is subject to competitive entry and nurtures a cadre of research-led clinical academics capable of going on to lead development in their discipline by providing the opportunity to undertake a PhD. The scheme is open to individuals training in, or seeking to train in, all disciplines in medicine (including surgical disciplines, general practice, public health medicine etc.) or dentistry, whether in primary or secondary care.
- Early Postdoctoral Fellowships: This scheme is designed to build health research capacity in Scotland as such it provides the opportunity for both clinical and non-clinical health researchers to develop their research following successful completion of a PhD.
https://www.nhsresearchscotland.org.uk/education-and-funding/fellowships
HSC R&D Division offers a range of research training fellowship awards at different levels, to include:
- HSC Doctoral Fellowship Award
- Pre-Doctoral Bridging Scheme
- Fellowship Awards (NIHR)
- ICAT Fellowship Award
Health and Care Research Wales runs a number of funding schemes variously designed to:
- fund high-quality research that provides robust evidence for policy development and health and social care practice;
- fund high-quality research that has clear public benefit;
- support capacity and capability building in health and social care research, for example by helping individuals to become independent researchers and funding talented individuals to undertake research leading to a PhD.
Health and Care Research Wales also works with UK funding partners to create additional funding opportunities for researchers based in Wales.
https://healthandcareresearchwales.org/researchers/funding-schemes
🔗 Economic and Social Research Council
🔗 Wellcome Charitable Foundation
For smaller projects, look for charities that have a special interest in your topic, or for wider health care topics try the following:
Research Training
Many health visitors will be interested in taking up further study to prepare themselves to undertake research activity.
There are many opportunities to learn more about becoming a researcher, some are listed below and others will be added over a period of time.
The important starting point is to be clear about what level of training you are looking for and have some idea about the field of research or research question that you want to investigate.
Most people start by taking a Masters degree and move on to PhD before being able to undertake independent research, you will need to consider:
- What is my research interest?
- Where will research training take me in my career?
- Who can support/supervise me? Do their interests match mine?
- Where in the country can I access the supervision?
- Do I want part time or full time research training?
- What schemes are available to help me?
- What will it cost me? (You might need to think about the costs to your time, workplace, family life etc. as well as financial cost)
- Where can I find research mentorship?
🔗 NIHR Academy
🔗 NIHR Mentorship Scheme
🔗 Research Academy
🔗 NIHR Learning and support
Useful Video Resources
This is a series of ten films giving advice and tips on becoming a clinical academic. It has been produced by the Enhancing Research Culture Team, including staff from the School of Health Sciences at the University of Southampton, NIHR ARC Wessex and University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust. It has been funded with support from UKRI Research England.
🎥 A guide to starting out in clinical academic research
This 1-hour masterclass hosted by QNI’s Community Nursing Research Forum was focused on applying for clinical academic fellowships.
🎥 QNI Masterclass - Applying for clinical academic fellowships
🔗 Research Masterclass: Applying for Clinical Academic Fellowships
Find out more about Nurse and Midwife Research Champions in a series of videos by the NIHR-supported Incubator for Nursing and Midwifery, supported by NHS Research and Development North West.
🎥 Nurse and midwife research champion - Sharin Baldwin
The NIHR ARC East Midlands have put together a number of short research training videos to include the following:
- Introduction to Qualitative Methods
- Introduction to Randomised Controlled Trials
- Introduction to Systematic Reviews
- Academic Writing Skills
- Thematic Analysis
- Publication Bootcamp
- Evaluation Skills
- Focus Groups
- Introduction to Biostatistics
- Grant Writing Skills