Research Programme for Social Care

The Research Programme for Social Care aims to fund research that generates evidence that increases the effectiveness of social care, provides value for money and benefits people who need or use social care and carers. 

The new Research Programme for Social Care will fund research which generates evidence to improve, expand and strengthen the way social care is provided for users of care services, carers, the social care workforce, and the public across the UK - England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The programme will fund primary, secondary and evidence synthesis research including qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods designs.  All proposals are expected to have a high degree of involvement from relevant people who need or use social care and the social care workforce.

RPSC welcomes high-quality proposals from researchers and practitioners that are focused on but not limited to:

• Studies of social care needs, circumstances and relevant outcomes related to adults, children or young people who need or use social care and carers, including studies of inequalities in any of these domains
• Evaluation of existing or new social care services, addressing their effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and distributional consequences 
• Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness evaluations of interventions, including adaptations or refinements of existing interventions/technologies
• Developing and testing new assessments, interventions or services
• Research methods development
• Feasibility, pilot and definitive trials
• Research examining consequences for social care users of provision of other services (e.g., health, education, criminal justice, family courts, housing, benefits)
• Policy-implementation research
• Studies that involve secondary data analysis or record linkage
• Systematic or other reviews of evidence
• Strategies for preventing or delaying the need for care and support
• Research on approaches to support and strengthen the social care workforce
• Capacity-building opportunities within awards

Applicants considering submitting a Stage 1 application may consider submitting an outline of their proposal for guidance before official submission. This can be done using the pre-submission form. This is non-mandatory and purely aimed at helping potential applicants to engage with the requirements of the call (e.g. eligibility and remit). For other questions, contact rpsc@nihr.ac.uk

The submission deadline for applications is 1pm on 17 January 2024.