Incubators to support research careers

The NIHR Incubators address areas where there is a need to build research capacity on a national level. NIHR provides some funding to enable key stakeholders to identify the barriers that exist and to suggest and implement, where possible, solutions to building research capacity in a sustainable and meaningful way.

This initiative aims to encourage early career interest in target disciplines to build identifiable communities through networking and provision of bespoke training and development support. Incubators are virtual, managed across multiple sites and organised by discipline. They provide targeted high level career development support, led by experts in the field and supported by the NIHR. Incubators are bespoke to meet the needs of each area and are developing at different paces.

Current NIHR Incubators include:

• Social Care Incubator
• Public Health Incubator
• Emergency Care Incubator
• Nursing and Midwifery Incubator
• Incubator for Mental Health Research
• Methodology Incubator
• Incubator for Clinical Education Research
• Advanced Surgical Technology Incubator

In addition to the NIHR Incubators, the NIHR is piloting one regional approach called the WESSEX REACH Initiative. REACH was created to facilitate the development of the future generation of health and care-related researchers across a range of disciplines and specialties in the Wessex region.

New incubators for 2024

We will fund 10 new incubators and support them for three years. They will start in January 2024, with a set-up phase from 1 July 2023.

The new incubators are:

• Applied Health and Care Research Methodology Incubator, led by Professor Dawn Teare (successful reapplication)
• Clinical Education Incubator, led by Professor Gillian Vance (successful reapplication)
• Community Rehabilitation Incubator, led by Professor Lindsay Bearne
• Diagnostic and Therapeutic Radiographers Incubator, lead by Dr Helen McNair
• Emergency Care Incubator, led by Dr Edward Carlton/Professor Heather Jarman (successful reapplication)
• Mental Health Social Care Incubator, led by Professor Catherine Robinson
• Paediatric Critical Care Incubator, led by Dr Padmanabhan Ramnarayan
• Pharmacy professionals Incubator, led by Professor Debi Battacharya
• Race Equity and Diversity in Careers Incubator, led by Professor Yemisi Takwoingi and Professor Mahendra Patel
• Regulatory Science in AI and Digital Healthcare Incubator, led by Professor Alastair K Denniston

Further Information

If you wish to receive more information about incubators, please contact icbs@nihr.ac.uk.