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 on a range of themes - such as dementia, long-term conditions and public health - to improve health and care systems to benefit patients, staff and the public.
The ARCs also work together on a number of national leadership areas. Research projects and collaborations between the ARCs drives progress in applied health research and implementation science in areas of national priority.
| ARC | National leadership area | Research themes |
|---|
| NIHR Applied Research Collaboration East of England |
Mental health
Palliative and end-of-life care
|
Research themes:
Ageing and multimorbidity
Population evidence and data science
Inclusive involvement in research for practice-led health and social care
Mental health over the life course
Palliative and end of life care
Prevention and early detection in health and social care
Cross-cutting theme:
Health economics and prioritisation in health and social care
|
| NIHR Applied Research Collaboration East Midlands |
Equality, diversity and inclusion of under-represented groups groups
Multimorbidity
|
Research themes:
Mental health and wellbeing
Managing multi-morbidity
Building community resilience and enabling independence
Cross-cutting themes:
Translating and implementing sustainable service improvement
Ethnicity and Health Inequalities
Data2health
|
| NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Greater Manchester |
Economics |
Research themes:
Digital health
Healthy ageing
Organising care
Economic sustainability
Mental health
Cross-cutting themes:
Evaluation
Implementation science
|
| NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Kent, Surrey and Sussex |
Social care |
Research themes:
Social care
Starting well: Children’s mental health
Ageing Well: Living well with dementia
Primary and community services
Cross-cutting themes:
Co-production
Public health
Digital innovation
Health and social care economics
|
| NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North East and North Cumbria |
Inequalities
Prevention
|
Research themes:
Supporting children and families
Multimorbidity, ageing and frailty
Integrating physical, mental health and social care
Prevention, early intervention and behaviour change
Cross-cutting themes:
Inequalities and marginalised communities
Enabling methodologies
Knowledge mobilisation and implementation science
|
| NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North Thames |
Population health |
Research themes:
Mental health: tackling social and institutional inequalities in mental health systems
Multimorbidity: understanding clusters and evaluating care
Population health and social care
Cross-cutting themes:
Innovation and implementation science
Health economics and data
|
| NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Northwest London |
Cardiovascular |
Research themes:
Child population health
Multimorbidity
Cross-cutting themes:
Digital health
Innovation and evaluation
Information and intelligence
Patient, public, community engagement and involvement
Collaborative learning and capacity building
|
| NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North West Coast |
|
Research themes:
Person-centred complex care
Improving population health
Equitable place-based health and care
Health and care across the life course
Cross-cutting themes:
Methodological innovation, development, adaptation and support
Care and health informatics
|
| NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Oxford and Thames Valley |
Behavioural science |
Research themes:
Disease prevention through health behaviour change
Patient self-management
Mental health across the life course
Community health and social care improvement
Applied digital health
Cross-cutting themes:
Novel methods to aid and evaluate implementation
|
| NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South London |
Mental health
Palliative and end-of-life care
|
Research themes:
Alcohol
Children and young people
Maternity and perinatal mental health
Palliative and end of life care
Patient and public involvement research
Public health and multimorbidities
Social care
Cross-cutting themes:
Applied informatics
Economics and biostatistics
Implementation science and research
|
| NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South West Peninsula |
Child health
Operational research modelling
|
Research themes:
Dementia
Mental health
Public health
Complex care
Cross-cutting theme:
Methods for research and improvement
|
| NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Wessex |
Ageing and dementia |
Research theme:
Long-term conditions: integrating person centred approaches to optimise healthy living
Cross-cutting themes:
Ageing and dementia: supporting independent living for people with complex health needs
Healthy communities: improving public health across the life course
Health systems & workforce: supporting health and social care by improving service delivery
|
| NIHR Applied Research Collaboration West |
Applied health informatics |
Research themes:
Healthier childhoods
Integrated and optimal care
Mental health
Public health and prevention
Cross-cutting themes:
Applied data science
Behavioural and qualitative science
Evidence
Health economics
|
| NIHR Applied Research Collaboration West Midlands |
|
Research themes:
Long-term conditions
Acute care interfaces
Integrated care in youth mental health
Maternity
Cross-cutting themes:
Organisational science
Research methodology, informatics and rapid response
Public health
Social care
|
| NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Yorkshire and Humber |
Urgent and emergency care |
Research themes:
Older people with frailty
Early life and prevention
Urgent and emergency care
Mental and physical multimorbidity
Cross-cutting themes:
Health economics, evaluation, equality
Improvement science
|
The NIHR ARC national priority areas are seven areas of applied health and care research that benefit from £13.125 million NIHR funding over three years to deliver ‘real world’ impact. The priority areas have been identified by the NIHR as areas that will benefit from national cross ARC collaboration. Working together the NIHR ARCs will look to develop evidence to inform decision making, enable effective implementation and change practice to address the identified health challenges. The programme brings together the 15 regional ARCs from across England to work with partners, patients and the public to deliver collective projects that investigate and tackle the most pressing health and care problems.
| National priority area | Lead ARCs |
|---|
| Adult Social Care |
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Kent, Surrey and Sussex
|
| Ageing, including dementia and frailty |
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration East Midlands
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South West Peninsula
|
| Child health and maternity |
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South West Peninsula
|
| Health and care inequalities |
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North East and North Cumbria
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Yorkshire and Humber North
|
| Mental Health |
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration East of England
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South London
|
| Multimorbidity |
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Oxford and Thames Valley
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration West
|
| Prevention, including behavioural risk factors |
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North East and North Cumbria
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration West Midlands
|
