Research for Patient Benefit - Competition 56

Webinar

A virtual Q&A webinar for this call took place on Monday 11 November for potential applicants. 

If you would like access to the slides or the recording please contact rfpb@nihr.ac.uk.

Launch of highlight notices to address local research priorities

Despite the uneven distribution of poor health outcomes in certain geographical regions, research efforts often overlook these populations and conditions. 

To address this research gap, the Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) programme will launch a series of regional highlight notices where we will invite proposals to address the specific health challenges facing the regions and communities of each funding committee. 

Rather than setting specific research themes, these highlight notices will allow applicants to identify and evidence the unmet patient research needs and priorities within their respective regions and communities. This includes urban centres as well as underserved coastal towns, rural and semi-rural regions where access to healthcare and health outcomes are most disparate.

With the implementation of the 2022 Health and Care Act, Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) have emerged as collaborative platforms, uniting NHS bodies, local authorities, and other stakeholders in the collective pursuit of improving healthcare delivery and reducing disparities. Each ICS is tasked with devising a five-year plan, outlining strategies to address the unique health needs of its population. 

Applicants will need to provide evidence that they are addressing a regional research priority by citing, for example, ICS strategy documents, or other regional policy or strategy documents such as Joint Strategic Needs Assessments, regional NIHR Applied Research Collaborations (ARCs) research themes and/or Health Innovation Network (HIN) priorities. If applicants have engaged with, and have the support of, their local ICB/HIN/commissioners, they are also invited to provide a letter of support to demonstrate this. This is to ensure local relevance and utility of the proposed research. Furthermore, in applications that seek to generate evidence which has been initially produced through research in other regions, the applicants will need to clearly justify why pre-existing evidence is not applicable in the regional context proposed. 

The RfPB programme encourages projects that propose innovative approaches to address these needs, foster collaboration with local stakeholders, and have the potential to deliver tangible benefits to the populations served. Where possible, applicants should also consider the potential for their evidence generated to be transferable to other settings in comparable regions and highlight this within their application.

Additionally, we encourage applications that embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion principles, ensuring that research outcomes are accessible and applicable to all people with protected characteristics as part of the relevant population. To fulfil the ongoing priority of the programme in developing research capacity, RfPB also encourages applications led by early career researchers and those from under-represented disciplines. In these applications, a more senior colleague should apply as a Joint Lead Applicant to provide mentorship and guidance for the early career researcher.

The first highlight notice of this series will focus on addressing the healthcare needs in the East of England and South West regions and will be part of the Competition 56 launching in November 2024. In order to adequately accommodate this within the regular RfPB competitions, the rollout of the subsequent regional highlight notices will be staggered. The highlight notice will be rolled out as follows:

Scope 

• Applications should be within RfPB scope. 
• Applications should ideally be co-produced with service commissioners, providers and service users wherever appropriate to better ensure findings are of immediate utility in policy and practice. Applicants may wish to consult the Briefing notes for researchers - public involvement in NHS, health and social care research.
• RfPB is a response mode/researcher-led funding programme for applied health and care research. As such, the research should have a demonstrable impact on the health or health care of users of that service. While this highlight notice deliberately does not specify topics to be covered, you are encouraged to read the programme's aims and scope statements. For this highlight notice applicants are encouraged to utilise the ICSs strategy documents or other regional policy and strategy documents to identify the evidenced unmet patient needs within their respective regions and communities.
• As an ongoing priority of the programme in developing research capacity, RfPB also encourages early career researchers and those from under-represented disciplines to apply as a Lead Applicant on their applications. In these applications, a more senior colleague should apply as a Joint Lead Applicant and provide mentorship and guidance for the early career researcher.
• The potential trajectory to patient benefit is a major selection criterion, so applicants are advised to ensure that they make a clear case for the patient and/or public benefit arising from the study. 
• The case for patient benefit should also consider the opportunities and/or barriers to the successful adoption of research into usage at scale (i.e. towards national implementation). The work of the Health Innovation Networks can be a useful guide to how such scaling can be nurtured and supported. 
• Alongside rigorous research designs and methodologies, we also look for awareness of barriers and facilitators to implementation and dissemination strategies that enhance the likelihood that the results can be utilised. Where appropriate, applicants should outline a clear knowledge mobilisation strategy within the application to ensure that the research findings are integrated into routine practice.

Requirements for applications submitted under the highlight notice:

• The notice is open to researchers at all career stages from across England and standard eligibility rules will apply as detailed in the Applicant guidance. RfPB welcomes applications from early career researchers.
• Host eligibility will include an NHS body or other provider of NHS services in England. Other relevant organisations and authorities are permitted as co-applicants but not necessarily host/lead organisations.

Funding 

The highlight notice is for applications up to £500,000 (100% direct costs for NHS and 80% full Economic Cost (fEC) for HEI) for a period of up to three years. Detailed information on eligible costs can be found in the RfPB’s Finance guidance. RfPB operates a tiered funding system, which reflects the likelihood of achieving patient benefit. Each application will need to provide a robust case for value for money.

How to apply 

Application process and assessment criteria

• This highlight notice is a part of a series dedicated to addressing regional unmet patient needs. It will focus on two regions per competition.
• The applications submitted under the highlight notice will undergo routine scrutiny along with other applications submitted to (e.g.) Competition 56. Proposals submitted under the highlight notice will be assessed on their quality and individual merits according to standard RfPB scheme criteria. Reviewers will also be asked to consider fit to the highlight notice including to what extent the research will address unmet patient need within the region based on the evidence provided, and the potential for utility and usability of the research within the region. 
• Applications will be considered by a regional assessment Committee and the assessors will be asked to consider fit to the highlight notice.
• Applicants are required to acknowledge within their proposal (in the research plan section) that they are responding to the regional priorities highlighted in the notice.
• The standard RfPB two stage application process will apply to applications submitted under this notice. 

Competition 56 Call Timetable 

Please contact rfpb@nihr.ac.uk for further queries.

Got a research idea and not sure how to turn it into a funding application? The Research Support Service (RSS) supports health and social care researchers across England on all aspects of developing and writing a funding application. 

Further reading:

Under-served communities programme

INCLUDE programme

Below is a selection of previously funded RfPB projects addressing regional needs and priorities. 

PB-PG-1013-32094 - An innovative educational intervention to improve uptake of Hepatitis B and C testing in South East Asians: Intervention development and a feasibility study for a RCT - Award: £329,740.

PB-PG-0416-20019 - Diagnosis and management of dementia in primary care in Black Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) groups: an exploratory study - Award: £149,418.

NIHR202769 - Hairdressing salons to promote NHS online application to reduce under-diagnosis of cardiovascular risk factors among women in London’s deprived and ethnically diverse neighbourhoods: a feasibility study - Award: £268,462.

NIHR203466 - A mixed methods study using co-production to explore food insecurity in adults with Severe Mental Illness living in Northern England - Award: £148,657

NIHR203548 - Shared medical appointments (SMA) in primary care for improving self-management of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) amongst underserved groups: feasibility randomised control trial in North East and North Cumbria (NENC) -  Award: £239,377

NIHR203590 - Effects of Implementation of a care bundle on rates of necrotising enterocolitis and own mother’s milk feeding in the East Midlands: a mixed methods impact and process evaluation study - Award: £241,266

NIHR206378 - Disparities In Access to the Northwest Ambulance Service during pregnancy, birth and postpartum period and its association with neonatal and maternal outcomes [DIAAS] - Award: £173,798.

Area of Research Interest 1 - Early Action to Prevent Poor Health Outcomes

The Department of Health and Social Care’s (DHSC) areas of research interest (ARIs) highlight to the patient, academic, clinical and life sciences community the areas where DHSC wants to expand its efforts and work together to systematically understand, intervene and improve public, patient and service outcomes.

Through a highlight notice, the Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) programme will join a cross-NIHR initiative that invites proposals that address the outcomes set out in the first of these, ARI 1, which is ‘Early action to prevent poor health outcomes’. 

This ARI focuses on the prevention, early diagnosis and appropriate intervention for people at increased risk of poor health, and includes (but is not limited to) obesity, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, mental health and cancer. 

These conditions are increasing in prevalence in the UK and, in doing so, also highlighting inequalities in affected groups. For example, while cancer and diabetes diagnoses have increased in all groups in recent years, they have risen steepest in those under 40. Furthermore, while mental health problems rose sharply during the pandemic, these have remained higher in children and young people than in pre-COVID norms and in some cases are still rising. In young people aged 17 to 19 years, rates of a probable mental disorder have increased from 17.4% in 2021 to 25.7% in 2022.

RfPB is specifically requesting research proposals that focus on tackling inequality in:

1. Prevention/early detection, or 
2. Intervention/management

The research covers the lifespan and could focus on children and young people, working age or/and older adults. 

Additionally, we encourage applications that embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion principles, ensuring that research outcomes are accessible and applicable to all people with protected characteristics as part of the relevant population.

In designing their applications to address the requirements of the ARI, applicants should align their application with focusing on one or more of the four areas set by its priority research topics, with tackling inequality in mind:

• Prevent: Development and implementation of scalable preventive interventions tailored to specific population groups or risk factors.
• Identify: Research into new methodologies for early detection and risk assessment tools and stratification, including the use of emerging technologies and data-driven approaches.
• Treat: Evaluation of early intervention strategies to optimise disease management, improve patient outcomes, and reduce healthcare costs.
• Manage: Optimise the management of multiple long-term conditions, prevent acute events, facilitate effective rehabilitation post-events and promote long-term health and well-being.

Applications will be welcomed that address the objectives of ARI 1, while providing a clear trajectory towards benefiting the health or wellbeing of patients and users of the NHS and social care services. Applicants will need to clearly demonstrate that the research being proposed has a high likelihood of generating outputs which can be adopted at scale throughout the NHS and/or enable system-level improvements through informing policy development and decision-making.

The RfPB programme encourages projects that propose innovative approaches to address these needs, foster collaboration with local stakeholders, and have the potential to deliver tangible benefits to the populations served. 

Scope

• Applications should be within RfPB scope. 
• Applications to this call are expected to deliver research which delivers according to the following cross-cutting themes:
  • Reducing health inequalities and improving the health and economic outcomes for the most deprived 20% of the population.
  • Promoting economic growth in the broadest sense, including by delivering a healthier workforce, a more efficient NHS, a higher skilled health and social care workforce.
  • Accelerating the speed and adoption of innovation to tackle compound pressures through life sciences investment.
• For this highlight notice, applicants should familiarise themselves with the background, objectives and priority research topics for this area of research interest, as laid out in the DHSC’s documentation on the subject.
• It should be made clear in applications that they have been submitted as part of this highlight notice and aiming to address the outcomes set out in ARI 1.
• Applications should contribute to on-going and planned NHS and social care initiatives in England and collaborations with service commissioners, providers and service users wherever appropriate are welcomed to better ensure findings are of immediate utility in policy and practice
• RfPB is a response mode/researcher-led funding programme for applied health and care research. As such, the research should have a demonstrable impact on the health or health care of users of that service. You are encouraged to read the programme's aims and scope statements. 
• The potential trajectory to patient benefit is a major selection criterion, so applicants are advised to ensure that they make a clear case for the patient and/or public benefit arising from the study. 
• Alongside rigorous research designs and methodologies, we also look for awareness of barriers and facilitators to implementation and dissemination strategies that  enhance the likelihood that the results can be utilised. Where appropriate, applicants should outline a clear knowledge mobilisation strategy within the application to ensure that the research findings are integrated into routine practice.

Requirements for applications submitted under the highlight notice:

• The notice is open to researchers at all career stages from across England and standard eligibility rules will apply as detailed in the Applicant guidance. RfPB welcomes applications from early career researchers. 
• Host eligibility will include an NHS body or other provider of NHS services in England. Other relevant organisations and authorities are permitted as co-applicants but not necessarily host/lead organisations.

Funding 

The highlight notice is for applications up to £500,000 (100% direct costs for NHS and 80% full Economic Cost (fEC) for HEI) for a period of up to three years. Detailed information on eligible costs can be found in the RfPB’s Finance guidance. RfPB operates a tiered funding system, which reflects the likelihood of achieving patient benefit. Each application will need to provide a robust case for value for money.

How to apply

Application process and assessment criteria

• The applications submitted under the highlight notice will undergo routine scrutiny along with other applications submitted to Competition 56. Proposals submitted under the highlight notice will be assessed on their quality and individual merits according to standard RfPB scheme criteria. Reviewers will also be asked to consider fit to the highlight notice including to what extent the research will address the prevention of poor health outcomes based on the evidence provided. 
• Applications will be considered by a regional assessment Committee and the assessors will be asked to consider fit to the highlight notice.
• Applicants are required to acknowledge within their proposal (in the research plan section) that they are responding to the area of research interest highlighted in the notice.
• The standard RfPB two stage application process will apply to applications submitted under this notice.

Competition 56 Call Timetable  

Please contact rfpb@nihr.ac.uk for further queries.

Got a research idea and not sure how to turn it into a funding application? The Research Support Service (RSS) supports health and social care researchers across England on all aspects of developing and writing a funding application. 

Further reading:

DHSC's areas of research interest

NIHR's EDI Strategy

Supporting Information

Please read the following guidance before submitting an application:  

• Guidance for Stage 1 applications
• Supporting information
• Finance guidance
• Guidance on funding limits
• Guidance on feasibility studies
• Frequently asked questions

Research Support Service

Got a research idea and not sure how to turn it into a funding application? The free NIHR Research Support Service (RSS) supports researchers in England to apply for funding. It can help you develop and deliver clinical and applied health, social care and public health research post award. 

Download application form template

You can download a template of the application form below. Please use this template as a guide to help you prepare your application. This Word document of the Stage 1 application form is to be used as a guide only. It is designed to help you complete the online application form only. For example, to see how many characters are accepted in each section and to see how information in the form is laid out. Please do not try to use this as an application form. You must submit your application in our online Research Management System which you can access by clicking on the 'Apply now' links when a funding opportunity is open.

When you are ready, you will need to log in to our Research Management System to apply.

The closing date is 5th March 2025 at 13:00

Apply now