Research Funding

The world of research funding is highly competitive and applications have to stand out from the competition in order to be successful. Funding may come from the National Institute for Health Research, Medical Research Council or topic and disease specific charity funding.

If you require funding for your research project, please contact the Innovation and Ideas Facilitators about funding and collaboration opportunities. There are a wide number of funding schemes available, many of which are supported by the Department of Health. We can assist you in finding the right funding stream for your project, help to facilitate your project idea, and support you through the funding application process.

• National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)

  The NIHR's main priority is to make sure that funding for research is focused where it is needed and provides quality outputs and value for money through a totally transparent and accountable system. There are a number of different streams with different scopes and eligibility. Further details can be found on the NIHR website. http://www.nihr.ac.uk/funding-opportunities/

• NIHR Research Programmes

  The processing research funding applications and the commissioning of research are currently co-ordinated and managed by the :

  • NIHR Central Commissioning Facility (CCF)
    Programme Grants for Applied Research
    Programme Development Grants
    Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB)
    Invention for innovation (i4i)

  • NIHR Evaluation, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre (NETSCC)
    Health Technology Assessment (HTA)

  In addition there are numerous charities that provide funding within their specific clinical areas. Some of them are also eligible to be part of the NIHR Portfolio.

• Costing a Research Proposal

  It is imperative that all research is costed accurately and that the costs of conducting a research trial are recovered fully.  Any health research study will have associated costs. 

  Costing Research projects can be complicated, especially when determining if costs are Research, NHS Support or Treatment and excess treatment costs. 

  Attributing the costs of health and social care Research and Development (AcoRD) establishes a mechanism from the Department of Health and Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) to meet some of the costs of charity funded research in the NHS. The AcoRD guidance clarifies the distinction between the three categories of costs associated with non-commercial research studies:

  • Research Costs
  • NHS Support Costs
  • Treatment Costs.

  For further information or support in costing a research project, please contact the Centre for Health Research and Innovation.

• Support with Grant Applications

  The Centre for Health Research and Innovation can provide support with Grant applications. Please contact the Innovation and Ideas Team for further information.

  We are a member of the Lancaster Health Hub which was established in 2010 to enable an increase in NHS / University / Industry collaborative research in health and medicine across Lancashire and Cumbria.  The Hub enables collaboration between colleagues in NHS Trusts and researchers at Lancaster University in the development of high quality, clinically relevant research. This close cooperation facilitates growth in research activity, training and infrastructure with the aim of underpinning the development of locally led research.

   http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/fhm/health-hub/

  Lancashire Clinical Trials Unit (CTU), University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), originally formulated in 2012, has been set up to manage health related trials for UCLan and external organisations. The Lancashire CTU team has accrued many years of experience in the skills required to develop, manage and analyse clinical trials with a growing specialisation in trials of complex interventions, in particular feasibility trials.

  http://www.uclan.ac.uk/research/explore/groups/ctu.php

Additionally the Research Design Service for the North West (RDS NW) also offer advice for researchers developing funding applications for eligible funding bodies. http://www.rds-nw.nihr.ac.uk/

Further details can be found in the document