Research Design Service
The NIHR Research Design Service (RDS) supports researchers to develop and design high quality research proposals for submission to NIHR and other national, peer-reviewed funding competitions for applied health or social care research.
The service started on 1 October 2008 and replaced the former Research and Development Support Units (RDSUs). The Research Design Service provides expert advice to researchers on all aspects of preparing grant applications for applied research in health and social care, including statistics, quantitative and qualitative research techniques, clinical trials, evidence synthesis, health economics, epidemiology, public and patient involvement, ethics and governance.
There are ten NIHR Research Design Service, one in each Strategic Health Authority area:
- East of England
- East Midlands
- London
- North East
- North West
- South Central
- South East Coast
- South West
- West Midlands
- Yorkshire and the Humber
A map with contact details is available for the network of NIHR RDS.
Funding
The total value of each NIHR Research Design Service contract is between £800k and £1m annually for five years.
NIHR briefing document: