Lancaster University and partners have been awarded a multi-million pound grant over five years to support the delivery of a new national NIHR Research Support Service for England.
The Lancaster University Research Support Service hub will be delivered in partnership with the Universities of Liverpool, Manchester, and Manchester Metropolitan.
The NIHR has announced a newly-established national Research Support Service which will take effect from 1 October 2023. The scheme replaces the NIHR Research Design Service (RDS) and NIHR Clinical Trial Units (CTU).
Lancaster University's Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health and Medicine Distinguished Professor Jo Rycroft-Malone and Catherine Gedling the current Director of the RDS are Co-Directors of the new service, and are delighted with the successful bid following a national competition, saying:
"This award provides an important opportunity to support the development and delivery of high quality research on questions of importance to health and social care services across England. Our hub will draw on the extensive experience of researchers within the Faculty of Health and Medicine and across our partner universities."
The new national NIHR Research Support Service will be delivered collaboratively through eight hubs across England, which will each bring together a variety of partners.
Three hubs will provide specialist support in Public Health or Social Care which will ensure that all parts of the research ecosystem are consistently well-served.
The Lancaster University hosted hub will be the only one to offer specialist support in Social Care.
In addition to Lancaster University, the other hubs will be hosted by the University of Birmingham, Imperial College London, King's College London, University of Leicester, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, University of Southampton and the University of York.
Each hub will be able to respond or direct researchers to the most appropriate methodological expertise within the NIHR RSS that supports their study requirements. This will include:
· advice and assistance with study development, design and delivery
· advice on patient and public involvement
· approaches to addressing research inclusion
· signposting to other support available from the NIHR
The NIHR RSS will operate nationally and will allow researchers to access the most appropriate support independent of their location. It will provide seamless support for all researchers in England working across the remit of the NIHR, from pre-application through to post-application phases. It will connect with the NIHR Clinical Research Network to support the development of studies designed to ensure they are optimised for delivery at study sites.
The NIHR RSS will function as an integrated research design, development, collaboration and implementation system. It will support training and career opportunities for everyone working in health and care research design. It will also help develop capacity in areas of current and future need. This will ensure that research design and methodology keep up with new technologies and ways of conducting research.
There are significant drivers for the new NIHR RSS. One is the vision to increase the use of innovative research designs as outlined in The Future of UK Clinical Research Delivery. Another is the growth in those areas of health, public health and social care research that take place outside the NHS, and where studies do not involve clinical trials.
