The NIHR funds local collaborations to support applied health research and research on implementation of health and care evidence into day-to-day practice.
The NIHR invests significantly in people, centres of excellence, collaborations, services and facilities to support health and care research in England. Collectively these form the NIHR infrastructure.
Our infrastructure funding provides a platform to enable research in England, acting as a targeted and strategic investment to create an environment where early-phase, clinical and applied research can thrive.
Our research infrastructure facilitates the translation of discoveries into improved treatments and services for the benefit of patients and the NHS.
NIHR Applied Research Collaborations (ARCs) support applied health and care research that responds to, and meets, the needs of local populations and local health and care systems.
These 15 local partnerships between NHS providers, universities, charities, local authorities, Academic Health Science Networks and other organisations also undertake implementation research to increase the rate at which research findings are implemented into practice.
The ARCs, announced in July 2019, aim to improve outcomes for patients and the public; improve the quality, delivery and efficiency of health and care services; and increase the sustainability of the health and care system both locally and nationally.
The ARCs undertake research on a number of areas of need highlighted by the NIHR Futures of Health report, including: the challenges of an ageing society; multimorbidity; and the increasing demands placed on our health and care system.
The £135 million five-year funding also aims to deliver national-level impact through significant collaboration between the ARCs, with individual ARCs providing national leadership within their fields of expertise.
The 15 ARCs are:
NIHR previously funded 13 NIHR Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRCs), which were local partnerships between NHS providers, universities, charities, local authorities, Academic Health Science Networks and other organisations. The CLAHRCs scheme closed in September 2019 and has been succeeded by the NIHR ARCs scheme.
Each NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) undertakes research in a number of areas of need, such as dementia, long-term conditions and public health.
The ARCs also work together on a number of national leadership areas, led by specific ARCs.
These collaborations of ARCs drive progress in applied health research and implementation science in areas of national priority for the health and care system, to bring benefits to patients faster.
| Leadership area | Lead ARC |
|---|---|
| Ageing and dementia | NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Wessex |
| Applied Health Informatics | NIHR Applied Research Collaboration West |
| Behavioural science | NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Oxford and Thames Valley |
| Cardiovascular | NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Northwest London |
| Child health | NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South West Peninsula |
| Economics | NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Greater Manchester |
| Equality, diversity and inclusion of under-represented groups | NIHR Applied Research Collaboration East Midlands |
| Inequalities | NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North East and North Cumbria |
| Mental health | NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South London NIHR Applied Research Collaboration East of England |
| Multimorbidity | NIHR Applied Research Collaboration East Midlands |
| Operational research modelling | NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South West Peninsula |
| Palliative and end-of-life care | NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South London NIHR Applied Research Collaboration East of England |
| Population health | NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North Thames |
| Prevention | NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North East and North Cumbria |
| Social care | NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Kent, Surrey and Sussex |
| Urgent and emergency care | NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Yorkshire and Humber |
Each NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) undertakes research on a number of priority areas.
| ARC | Host NHS organisation | Research priorities |
|---|---|---|
| NIHR Applied Research Collaboration East of England | Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust | 1. Ageing and multimorbidity 2. Population evidence and data science 3. Inclusive involvement in research for practice-led health and social care 4. Health economics and prioritisation in health and social care 5. Mental health over the life course 6. Palliative and end of life care 7. Prevention and early detection in health and social care |
| NIHR Applied Research Collaboration East Midlands | Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust | 1. Mental health and wellbeing 2. Managing multi-morbidity 3. Building community resilience and enabling independence 4. Data2health 5. Ethnicity and Health Inequalities 6. Translating and implementing sustainable service improvement |
| NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Greater Manchester | Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust | 1. Healthy ageing 2. Digital health 3. Mental health 4. Organising care 5. Evaluation 6. Implementation science 7. Economic sustainability |
| NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Kent, Surrey and Sussex | Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust | 1. Social care 2. Starting well: early detection and intervention of mental health problems in children and adolescent 3. Living well with dementia 4. Primary and community health services 5. Co-production 6. Public health 7. Digital innovation 8. Economics of health and social care |
| NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North East and North Cumbria | Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust | 1. Multimorbidity, ageing and frailty 2. Supporting children and families 3. Prevention, early intervention and behaviour change 4. Integrating physical, mental health and social care 5. Inequalities and marginalised communities 6. Assistive technologies and data linkage 7. Evaluating change with pace and scale 8. Knowledge mobilisation and implementation science |
| NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North Thames | Barts Health NHS Trust | 1. Mental health: tackling social and institutional inequalities in mental health systems 2. Multimorbidity: understanding clusters and evaluating care 3. Population health and social care 4. Innovation and implementation science 5. Health economics and data |
| NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Northwest London | Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | 1. Child population health 2. Multimorbidity 3. Digital health 4. Innovation and evaluation 5. Information and intelligence 6. Patient, public, community engagement and involvement 7. Collaborative learning and capacity building |
| NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North West Coast | NHS Liverpool CCG | 1. Person-centred complex care 2. Improving population health 3. Equitable place-based health and care 4. Methodological innovation, development, adaptation and support 5. Health and care across the life course 6. Care and health informatics |
| NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Oxford and Thames Valley | Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust | 1. Disease prevention through health behaviour change 2. Patient self-management 3. Mental health across the life course 4. Community health and social care improvement 5. Applied digital health 6. Novel methods to aid and evaluate implementation |
| NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South London | King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | 1. Alcohol 2. Applied informatics 3. Capacity building 4. Children and young people 5. Economics and biostatistics 6. Implementation research 7. Maternity and perinatal mental health 8. Palliative and end of life care 9. Patient and public involvement research 10. Public health and multimorbidities 11. Social care |
| NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South West Peninsula | Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust | 1. Dementia 2. Mental health 3. Public health 4. Complex care 5. Methods for research and improvement |
| NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Wessex | University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust | 1. Ageing and dementia: supporting independent living for people with complex health needs 2. Healthy communities: improving public health across the life course 3. Long-term conditions: integrating person centred approaches to optimise healthy living 4. Health systems & workforce: supporting health and social care by improving service delivery |
| NIHR Applied Research Collaboration West | University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust | 1. Mental health 2. Behavioural and qualitative science 3. Public health and prevention 4. Applied data science 5. Integrated and optimal care 6. Healthier childhoods 7. Evidence 8. Health economics |
| NIHR Applied Research Collaboration West Midlands | University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust | 1. Long-term conditions 2. Acute care interfaces 3. Integrated care in youth mental health 4. Maternity 5. Cross-cutting: organisational science 6. Cross-cutting: research methodology, informatics and rapid response |
| NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Yorkshire and Humber | Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | 1. Older people with frailty 2. Early life and prevention 3. Urgent and emergency care 4. Mental and physical multimorbidity 5. Health economics, evaluation, equality 6. Improvement science |
Case study: DIPLOMA impact case study
