NIHR Faculty: Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What is NIHR Faculty and who is included?
A: The National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Faculty comprises all the people who:
- conduct or support clinical and applied health and social care research; and
- whose salary is funded, in part or in whole, from NIHR funding and/or Department of Health Policy Research Programme (PRP) funding (whether paid direct to the employer or to a partner organisation); and
- are employed by an English NHS organisation, a university or a registered charity.
Q. What does it mean to be a member of NIHR Faculty?
A: If a researcher is a member of NIHR Faculty this means that he or she:
- is engaged in, supporting or training in high quality people or patient-based research in health or social care;
- is contributing to collective research endeavour in health and social care and may be expected reasonably to support to other NIHR Faculty members by contributing to peer review, serving on panels and disseminating research findings;
- is prepared to be identified to other members of Faculty via a detailed and searchable directory of NIHR Faculty members, and in turn is able to contact Faculty members with similar interests. The directory will be developed as the NIHR Portal is rolled out to authenticated users. More details will be provided here as soon as they are available.
- has access via the NIHR Portal to information about NIHR research and funding opportunities, the Research Passport, and to a set of online resources. More details will be made available here as these are rolled out.
- can compete for Senior Investigator status, if eligible as an NIHR Investigator;
- can participate in the NIHR Leadership Programme if meeting relevant criteria,
- can attend NIHR events including meetings, seminars and symposia, and Clinical Research Network research training events.
Q. What are the categories of membership?
A: There are four categories:
- NIHR Trainee: NIHR Trainees are the next generation of researchers. They are individuals whose salaries are supported by NIHR Training schemes for Clinical Lecturers, Academic Clinical Fellows, Research Fellows and Research Students and all Personal Award Schemes administered through the NIHR Trainees Coordinating Centre.
- NIHR Associate: NIHR Associates are funded by NIHR to support research led by others. The main NIHR part of their salary related to research will be a "Service Support Cost", met through funding for NIHR Research Networks. Their salary may, at local discretion, be funded in part from NIHR Flexibility and Sustainability Funding.
NIHR Associates have a key role in supporting research via activities such as enrolling patients into clinical trials, or doing lab-based analysis. This includes all clinical and clinical support staff who support research led by others including medical, nursing, pharmacy, imaging professionals, and healthcare scientists. It may also include employees of NIHR research networks and coordinating centres.
· NIHR Investigator: NIHR Investigators are directly engaged in doing research. The main part of their salary related to research is a "Research Cost". NIHR Investigators are employed by NHS organisations, or by universities or charities in England. Their salary will be funded at least in part by NIHR Project, Programme, Unit, Centre or PRP funding. NIHR Investigators include all research staff working on a research project including lead researchers, other senior researchers, and research assistants, and others in scientific, technical and other supporting roles.
- NIHR Senior Investigator: NIHR Senior Investigators are the most outstanding leaders of patient and people-based research. They are selected from NIHR Investigators through an open competition overseen by an international peer-review panel. NIHR Senior Investigators form a college which:
- provides research leadership to the NIHR Faculty. For example, they will help in planning and speaking at events, hosting visiting fellows or mentoring clinical trainees;
- provides expert advice to the Department of Health Director General of Research and Development;
- promotes people-based research in health and social care.
The NIHR College is a prestigious body with a programme of events for members including an Annual Meeting. NIHR Senior Investigators receive the award of a £15,000 a year personal discretionary fund, to be spent flexibly at their professional discretion, within their employers' governance arrangements. In addition Senior Investigators attract additional Research Capability Funding (formerly Flexibility and Sustainability Funding) to the main NHS organisation with which they hold a contract of employment or an honorary contract.
- NIHR Honorary Members: Honorary Membership was available for NIHR Faculty members’ partners in research, including in industry who were not funded by the NIHR but who were making a major contribution to the work of the NIHR. This was a good way of engaging the research community in the NIHR Faculty during the initial stages of establishing the NIHR. However, the NIHR has evolved and the category closed to new members in January 2010.
Q. What if someone is eligible for more than one category of NIHR Faculty membership?
A: It is possible to hold two or more categories of membership simultaneously. 'Examples of Faculty Members' provides a set of thumbnail sketches of members of NIHR Faculty, setting out how membership works in practice.
Q. How can researchers apply for membership, or become members of NIHR Faculty?
A: Membership of the NIHR Faculty comes with a successful application for NIHR Funding:
- NIHR Trainees: details of how to apply for all the schemes which grant NIHR Trainee status are available here.
- NIHR Associates: membership is automatic for individuals in research support roles who are supported at least in part by NIHR funding, usually via Clinical Research Networks.
- NIHR Investigators: membership is automatic where a researcher employed by an England university or charity, or by the NHS, is part of successful application for NIHR or PRP research funding. Investigator status is gained when a research contract is issued and research commences. Details of current calls for research are available through Calls for Proposals.
- NIHR Senior Investigators: only NIHR Investigators are eligible to apply to be Senior Investigators. Details about on the NIHR Senior Investigators are available here.
Q. What information does NIHR need to collect from members of NIHR Faculty, and why?
A: Information is collected on NIHR Trainees, Investigators and Senior Investigators in order that the NIHR and the Department of Health can be accountable for the spending of public funds on the research workforce. Individuals will be asked to consent to their details being forwarded to the NIHR, and to being used in a secure directory of NIHR Faculty members. As Faculty members become authenticated users of the NIHR Portal they will be able to log in and update their own details. More details will be available through the NIHR website and portal.
Q. Why does NIHR/PRP funding determine membership?
A: The NIHR and PRP only fund research and work judged to be of high scientific quality and relevance to patients, policy-makers and the NHS. If a researcher is supported by NIHR or PRP funds, the standard of their work will have already been assessed through peer review. To impose further checks on the quality and relevance of Faculty members' research is unnecessary.