NIHR Research Professorships

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The NIHR Research Professorship is the flagship award for the NIHR. The scheme aims to fund research leaders of the future to promote effective translation of research.

This fixed 5-year award allows outstanding academics to work at professorial-level based at a Higher Education Institution, in partnership with an NHS organisation, or other providers of health, public health and/or care services.

We offer two types of Research Professorships:

NIHR Research Professorships - based in England only, up to five awards per round
NIHR Global Research Professorships - based in all 4 UK nations, up to four awards per round

All applications must be submitted through our NIHR Award Management System.

Further information

Email: academy-awards@nihr.ac.uk, and detail which programme you are enquiring about in the subject area.

Research Professorships

The NIHR Research Professorships scheme is open to all professions and all Higher Education Institutions (HEI), in partnership with NHS organisations, or other providers of health, public health and/or care services based in England, to nominate health, public health and social care researchers and methodologists with an outstanding research record of clinical and applied health research and its effective translation for improved health.

The nominating (lead) organisation must be a HEI.

A maximum of two nominations will be permitted per HEI for the NIHR Research Professorships.

The following conditions apply:

Where two nominees are put forward for consideration for the NIHR Research Professorship, at least one of these must be female
Where only one nominee is put forward for consideration for the NIHR Research Professorship, this could be male or female.

Useful documents for potential applicants

Global Research Professorships

The NIHR Global Research Professorships scheme is open to all professions and all Higher Education Institutions (HEI) based in the UK (England and the Devolved Administrations). HEIs can nominate health, public health and social care researchers and methodologists with an outstanding research record of clinical and applied health, public health or care research, and its effective translation for improved health and welfare of people in low-and-middle-income-countries (LMICs). For this scheme, the partner organisation(s) can be based in a relevant LMIC. The nominating (lead) organisation must be a HEI based in the UK.

The following conditions apply:

A maximum of two nominations for the NIHR Global Research scheme will be permitted per HEI
The nomination must be for a candidate undertaking research which aims to specifically and primarily benefit individuals in countries on the OECD DAC list.
Where two nominees are put forward for consideration for the NIHR Global Research Professorship, at least one of these must be female
Where only one nominee is put forward for consideration for the NIHR Global Research Professorship, this could be male or female.

Our nominees will be required to have existing strong links with partners in institutions in countries on the OECD DAC list. The award should plan to strengthen the training development/mentorship with these partners.