---
title: "National Institute for Health and Care Research"
chunk: 2/3
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Institute_for_Health_and_Care_Research"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:34:49.504003+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

=== Public partnerships ===
The NIHR offers several ways for patients and the public to participate in health and care research. People can take part in a study as a research participant, for example in a clinical trial that looks for new treatments for a health condition. People who are not affected by a particular condition or who care for someone with a long-term health issue can also take part in research. The NIHR runs the online services Be Part of Research and Join Dementia Research to inform the public about what health and care research is and to help them find studies that are looking for participants.
Patients and the public can also contribute to research through patient and public involvement (PPI). PPI is a partnership between members of the public (including patients, service users, carers) and researchers where public representatives can influence what should be a priority for research and help shape how the research is carried out, applied and communicated. Members of the public can find involvement opportunities in NIHR's research through the database People in Research. The website Learning for Involvement also offers information and resources for learning about public involvement and best practice case studies. The NIHR's global health research funding application process also requires applicants to meaningfully involve affected communities in their research, a practice known in the global health context as Community Engagement and Involvement (CEI).

== Infrastructure ==
NIHR funds research infrastructure that provides expertise, specialist facilities, a delivery workforce and support services. This infrastructure supports and delivers research funded by government bodies, medical research charities, the life sciences industry and other relevant industries.
NIHR coordinates and supports clinical research through its Research Delivery Network (RDN). With 12 regional networks across England, the RDN provides help to patients, the public and health and care organisations to participate in research. In 2021–22, the network recruited more than a million participants to clinical research studies, most of whom were taking part in research to help discover new treatments and vaccines for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since 2007, the NIHR also supports translating scientific developments into direct clinical treatments and applications through its twenty Biomedical Research Centres (BRCs). The BRCs operate as partnerships between local NHS organisations and academic institutions such as the University of Oxford or University College London. Around 2022, the NIHR established Clinical Research Facilities – dedicated spaces for delivering research and trials – at 28 NHS hospitals.
The NIHR also funds three Patient Safety Translational Research Centres which focus on translating discoveries on patient safety into practice.
Researching specific regional health and care issues, the NIHR has a network of 15 Applied Research Collaborations. These are partnerships between universities, NHS healthcare providers, local authorities and other organisations. Based at NHS organisations, the NIHR Medtech and In vitro diagnostic Co-operatives work with commercial companies on developing new medical technologies and research in vitro diagnostic tests.
Established by its Office for Clinical Research Infrastructure in 2011, the NIHR has eight Translational Research Collaborations – ready-formed networks of universities, NHS trusts and research centres that conduct early-phase translational research and tackle experimental medicine challenges in selected therapeutic themes.

== Career development and support ==
The NIHR Academy, launched in 2018, develops and coordinates the NIHR's academic training, career and research capacity development. Its launch was an output and recommendation of the strategic review of training which looked at the future training and support needs of researchers.
The NIHR Academy provides training and career development awards from pre-doctoral level to research professorships. As of 2021 the Dean of the NIHR Academy is Professor Waljit Dhillo, Professor in Endocrinology and Metabolism, and Consultant Endocrinologist. He also holds the position of Head of the Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology & Metabolism at Imperial College London.
The award of NIHR Senior Investigator is given to recognise "the most prominent and prestigious researchers funded by the NIHR and the most outstanding leaders of patient and people-based research within the NIHR research community", and held for four years with the possibility of a second term and then alumnus status. The NIHR's flagship award is the Research Professorship which funds the clinical and applied health research of outstanding academics for 5-years. Similarly, the Global Health Research Professorship funds research that benefits low and middle income countries.

== Key people and structure ==
Responsibility for the NIHR lies with the Chief Scientific Advisor to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). Professor Sally Davies (Dame Sally from 2009) held this post from 2004 to 2016, and led the founding of the NIHR in 2006. She was succeeded by Professor Chris Whitty (who has also been Chief Medical Officer for England since 2019).
Since August 2021, the current holder of the post is Lucy Chappell, Professor of Obstetrics at King's College London.
For operating the NIHR, the DHSC contracts with a number of NHS Trusts, universities and life science organisations that host NIHR's two coordinating centres:

NIHR Coordinating Centre (NIHRCC), hosted by Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, the University of Southampton, and LGC.
NIHR Research Delivery Network Coordinating Centre (RDNCC), hosted together by the University of Leeds.
The Dean of the NIHR Academy and the Research Programme Directors are also contracted by the DHSC.