Funding streams

The NIHR offers a number of funding streams, each appropriate for different types of projects, from small, discrete pieces of research of a highly speculative research through project grants to large integrated programme grants. Details of the schemes funded by the NIHR Central Commissioning Facility can be found here and those funded by the NIHR Evaluation, Trials and Studies Co-ordinating Centre can be found here.

Details of other funding streams available nationally can be found at NHS RD Funding.

What is the national portfolio?

The NIHR Portfolio is a national database of studies. Research projects that are adopted onto the national portfolio are those which are deemed to be of value to the NHS / or patients and are supported nationally.

• Adopted studies receive infrastructure support from the research networks to help with study promotion, set up, recruitment and follow up. Most primary care studies receive support from the Primary Care Research Network (PCRN).
• Adopted studies can apply for NHS permission (R&D approval) via the streamlined National Co-ordinated System for NHS Permissions (CSP) which eliminates the need for multiple applications to be made to each NHS site.
• For non-commercial studies, investigators also receive help with NHS costs associated with running a study (service support costs) – for example, cost covering GPs time in doing a database search and mail shot to potential participant or seeing a participant for a study visit.

Criteria for adoption:

For non-commercial studies the research funder must:

• award research funds as a result of open competition across England with high quality peer review
• fund research that is of clear value to the NHS
• take account of DH and NHS priorities and needs in their research funding strategies.

For commercial studies the criteria is:

• Is there a genuine and testable hypothesis or a valid research question with a possible future benefit for patients as its objective?
• Is there a statistically valid trial design which is reasonable for the stated main objective and main hypothesis of the trial?
• Have the trial and its design been subjected to an adequate protocol review process?
• Does the NIHR network infrastructure have the current capacity to deliver the trial data reliably and on time?

Submitting for adoption onto the National Portfolio

You can apply for adoption of your study onto the national portfolio anytime after you have submitted your application for funding, however it is more usual to submit for adoption as part of the process of obtaining NHS Permission. Further details about how to apply for adoption can be found on the UKCRN website.