Themed calls

NIHR themed calls are funding opportunities focusing on a particular priority research area. The government's Chief Medical Officer sets out an annual research priority, calling for researchers with interest in that area, to come forward. We advertise themed funding opportunities across many of our UK programmes. When assessing funding applications, we prioritise those submitted in response to a themed call.

Themed calls typically cover all aspects of translational, clinical, public health and social care research. Funding in these priority areas aims to find high impact solutions for those who plan, commission and use health, public health and social care services.

Current themed call

Our current themed call is around prevention.

We are announcing a targeted prevention funding opportunity which is part of a co-ordinated response by NIHR to the DHSC Areas of Research Interest 1 (ARI1): Early Action to Prevent Poor Health Outcomes.

A focus on prevention will enable people to live healthier and happier lives, improve economic growth, and reduce pressure on the NHS.

We want to generate high-quality research evidence into the evaluation of health and care interventions and services which address gaps in our understanding of preventative strategies, early diagnosis techniques, and effective interventions for individuals at increased risk of chronic diseases such as:

  • obesity
  • cardiovascular disease
  • type 2 diabetes
  • mental health disorders
  • hearing loss
  • musculoskeletal disorders (MSK)
  • cancer

ARI 1 priority research topics will be addressed through a series of specific but linked research funding opportunities across the relevant NIHR research programmes and infrastructure. These funding opportunities will include (but not be limited to) the following priorities:

  • Analogue to digital
    • screening and early detection: novel approaches to screen and detect ill health, encompassing new technologies
  • Moving care from hospital to community
    • neighbourhood health: improving care delivery in community settings for the neighbourhood health service models, including a healthy start for all children
  • Sickness to prevention
    • lifecourse health: to ensure a healthy start for children, a boost in workforce health and healthy ageing
    • targeted health Interventions: personalised prevention, boost health in the workplace and healthy ageing to empower citizens and tackle health inequalities

All research proposals will be expected to consider engagement, impact and knowledge mobilisation strategies, in addition to the following cross-cutting themes:

  • reducing health inequalities, by addressing the social determinants of health, the clustering of risk factors in the most disadvantaged populations with the greatest disease burden, ensuring equitable access to services and tailored interventions designed to reduce disparities
  • promoting economic growth in the broadest sense, including a healthier workforce, a more efficient NHS, a higher skilled health and social care workforce, and through investment in the life sciences
  • accelerating the speed and adoption of innovation in the health and care system 

Participating funding programmes 

Current funding opportunities for ARI 1

Further details on forthcoming calls addressing ARI1 will be made available in due course.

If you need further guidance on programme eligibility, please contact the relevant NIHR programme as soon as possible. For support in developing your proposal, we encourage you to contact your local NIHR Research Support Service or equivalent in the first instance.

Our highlight notices

We also publish research highlight notices which highlight areas of ongoing health research priorities for our programmes.

Our current highlight notices are:

Compound Pressures

We have issued a cross-programme call for research which evaluates health and care interventions and services, to reduce compound pressures on the NHS and social care.

Brain tumours

Together with the Department of Health and Social Care, we are looking for collaborative research into any aspect of brain tumours including diagnosis, treatment, and supporting patients.

Motor neurone disease (MND)

We have issued a cross-programme call for research proposals to accelerate progress in and learning from MND clinical trials.

Dementia

This call invites proposals for dementia research. It looks to address important health and social care questions, particularly focusing on meeting the needs of underserved populations.

Previous themed calls

These previous research themes remain ongoing health research priorities for all our programmes. If you are an interested researcher, we encourage you to submit an application to one of our researcher-led opportunities:

For queries about our current themed call and highlight notices, please email us at themedcalls@nihr.ac.uk 

For all other enquiries about our ongoing research priorities, please contact the relevant programme.

Applying for a themed call

You can find out more about our opportunities and apply online:

Search for themed funding opportunities