NIHR Applied Research Collaborations (ARCs) Intention to Fund

Introduction

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) invests significantly in centres of excellence, collaborations, services and facilities to support research in England. This is collectively known as NIHR research infrastructure. This notice signals the intention to launch a new, open competition for infrastructure in applied health and care to designate and fund NIHR Applied Research Collaborations (ARCs) later this year. The ARC competition is subject to internal government approvals and the intention to fund notice can be withdrawn at any time.

Eligible NHS organisations may submit one application for funding of up to £16.3m over five years from 1 April 2026. The number and geographical location of ARCs has not been pre-determined but it is anticipated that the ARCs will provide coverage across all regions in England and align with one or more of the Health Innovation Network (HIN) regions to support close collaboration. There is no assumption that the NIHR will fund one ARC per HIN region. Funding will be informed by the scale, nature and quality of the proposed programme of work, including the extent to which the application responds to the policy development set out in the full guidance.

An initial application will be reviewed against the selection criteria by an independent funding committee. Applications which meet all the selection criteria will be provided with feedback and invited to submit an amended full application and points of clarification. The full application will be considered by the independent funding committee alongside applicant interviews. The committee will then make recommendations to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) on designation and level of funding.

Role of NIHR ARCs

The purpose of the NIHR ARCs from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2031 will be to undertake high-quality applied health and care research with a focus on generalisable learning at a regional and national level. Working closely with stakeholders including DHSC, NHS England, Integrated Care Systems (ICSs), the HINs and other NIHR infrastructure, the ARCs will also support knowledge mobilisation and implementation of research-based evidence to ensure effective interventions and models of care can be scaled nationally.    

The NIHR ARC scheme will provide designation and funding to:

• create an environment to develop and conduct high quality, generalisable, applied health, public health and social care research that responds to and meets the priority research needs of the health and care system and patients and the public;
• use knowledge mobilisation approaches to support an increase in the rate at which research findings are implemented into practice at scale to deliver improvements in health and care services and the delivery and efficiency of health and care, and increase sustainability of the health and care system both nationally and regionally;
• address health inequalities by embedding inclusive approaches across all projects and programmes to ensure that research is relevant to the end-user, results are generalisable to a broad and diverse population, and any resulting intervention can be successfully delivered to the people who need it most;
• increase the country’s capacity and capability, including in under-represented specialties and professions, to conduct and translate high quality applied health and care research, including further development of robust real-world methodology and evidence generation;
• collaborate to respond to national health and care challenges, including emerging needs, and support effective interventions and models of care into practice, responding to DHSC and NHS England priorities; and
• contribute to broader economic gain, including through collaborations with life sciences and other commercial companies, focussing on meeting the needs of the population and the health and care system.

NIHR ARCs will work collaboratively across NIHR infrastructure and the wider health and care system to generate high-quality research and facilitate knowledge mobilisation which has a clear implementation pathway to generalisable findings that can be scaled and adopted nationally, particularly in areas of high disease burden and service demands. While being responsive at a regional level is important, it is anticipated that many of the challenges in one part of the country are relevant to others so progression towards nationally generalisable evidence is emphasised in future work programmes.

Eligible organisations in England will need to demonstrate a cadre of expertise in applied health and care research; the ability to respond to broad system needs; and proven experience of working with others to translate and implement research findings into practice. Applicants will need to demonstrate partnership working or existing critical mass across multidisciplinary teams combined with a core of professions that can respond to wider applied health and social care research and implementation of change, such as health and care services researchers, health economists, implementation and knowledge mobilisation experts, patient involvement and engagement professionals and those with expertise in health inequalities and research inclusion. More detail on the balance between senior clinical academics and early and mid-career researchers will be set out in the full guidance. ARCs should consider their pipeline of researchers to support career progression and ensure succession planning for applied health and care research.

Scope

The NIHR ARC scheme will fund infrastructure to generate applied health and care research with a focus on generalisable learning at both at the NHS England supra-regional and national level. ARCs will generate research, carry out evaluation of health and care interventions, and support implementation and knowledge mobilisation of effective interventions and models of care in priority areas for DHSC, NHS England and the Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) in addition to the strategic research priorities as set out in NIHR’s Best Research for Best Health: The next chapter. Further details on priorities will be published in the full guidance.

ARCs will respond to the needs of the health and care system, including scale up and spread of research arising from the needs of Integrated Care Systems (ICS), carry out research in the areas where people are living with the greatest burden of disease/care needs, and develop inclusive research with under-served communities. ARCs will be expected to contribute to the delivery of the new NIHR Commitments for Public Partnerships.

Research will be expected to deliver improved outcomes for patients, service users, carers and the public, improved efficiencies and safety in the delivery of health and care services, and increased sustainability of the health and care system, including support for workforce development and retention. ARCs will work across the health and care system to increase capacity and capability to get research and evidence into practice facilitating the dissemination, knowledge mobilisation and implementation of research findings. Successful approaches to these will be underpinned by appropriate resourcing for the development and maintenance of relationships with key regional and national partners including, but not limited to, other NIHR Infrastructure, the HINs, ICSs, local authorities, Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) organisations, health and care providers and community groups.

ARCs will have a remit to build research capacity and develop research careers. This remit will be expanded to increase capacity and capability for knowledge mobilisation and implementation research.

A key emphasis underpinning the ARC programme continues to be embedding health equity through inclusive research across all projects and programmes to ensure that research is relevant to the end-users, results are generalisable to a broad and diverse population, and any resulting intervention can be successfully delivered to the people who most need it within the population.

ARCs will be expected to be responsive to support national health and care priorities. These can change so ARCs will need to be responsive to emerging needs drawing in research expertise and resources, sometimes at short notice.

Possible future funding opportunities for designated NIHR ARCs

NIHR ARC Network

Following this proposed competition, it is anticipated that the NIHR will establish a network for designated NIHR ARCs. The purpose of this Network will be to provide strategic and operational coordination, working closely with NIHRCC, to act as a focal point between designated ARCs to optimise synergies across the infrastructure and to facilitate national links with key partners. It is anticipated that the ARC Network will be commissioned to:

• provide strategic and operational coordination and a focal point for collaboration between the designated ARCs;
• facilitate national links between the ARCs and their key partners, including ICSs, HINs, charities, industry and other NIHR-funded research infrastructure;
• act as a leader across NIHR translational infrastructure to support work across regions and by theme/populations is pulled through into translation working with the BRCs, HRCs and PSRCs to strengthen their thinking on how translational pathways are embedded across their themes, taking a ‘concierge’ approach to taking a piece of research into practice;
• optimise synergies across lead activities (research capacity development, PPIE, research inclusion, knowledge mobilisation and impact), improve visibility and provide increased opportunities for learning to be shared between ARCs and with key stakeholders in the health and care system; and
• provide an offer to commercial companies seeking advice on how best to consider implementation in their research to support evidenced treatments or assistive technology, for example, into practice.

Further details on the establishment of the NIHR ARC Network will be provided following confirmation of the outcome of any future NIHR ARC competition.

Fast-track Funding

Additional funding for fast-track projects to support rapid evaluations and development and delivery of collaborative projects to meet Ministerial and national priority needs is being considered and may be launched following the designation and funding of the ARCs. 

Application Process and Anticipated Timetable

Eligibility Criteria

All NHS organisations in England are eligible to apply on behalf of a proposed Collaboration.

Applications are invited from any NHS organisation that can demonstrate a significant portfolio and expertise within applied health and care research. NIHR ARC designation will be awarded to a single NHS organisation on behalf of a collaboration. The NHS organisation may identify a primary university partner who would form part of the designated ARC.

RDN portfolio requirement

NHS Trusts and their primary university partner, with a minimum of 20 open, sponsored studies on their LCRN portfolio, will have to demonstrate that their portfolio of sponsored CRN/RDN studies are delivering to time and target. All open, sponsored studies are included within this policy. As the target is a snapshot in time, quarterly data both for the baseline (FY 2023/24 Q2) and an average of the last three quarters in the run up to the competition launch (FY 2023/24 Q3 to FY 2024-25 Q1 inclusive) for the current measure are included. NHS trusts not meeting the 80% threshold, but having made progress towards this, defined as an increase of at least 10% from baseline will be considered as meeting the threshold. Applications from NHS trusts or with a primary HEI who do not meet the 80% threshold will only be able to apply for up to 90% of the funding envelope (£14.7m).

Succession Planning

Applicants will need to provide a clear process for succession planning describing how they will support the development of a highly skilled research workforce and provide mentorship and opportunities for emerging leaders to have leadership roles within and across the scheme. Consideration should be given to providing support across the career development pathway for staff at all levels, from early training into continuous professional development, to build capacity and expertise within the ARC.

The NIHR expectations on resourcing for the NIHR ARCs’ proposed research teams are outlined below, with further detail to follow, alongside expectations for succession planning:

Directors and Co-directors:

• Directors and co-Directors
  • NIHR strongly encourages the appointment of a co-Director and in instances where the proposed Director has already served one full term as ARC Director, for contract 2019-2026, the appointment of a co-Director is mandatory.
  • The total FTE for the Director and co-Director posts should be no less than 0.4 FTE/week in total, noting the funding committee will consider value for money if the FTE is deemed excessive.
    
    
• Theme Leads
  • Each theme should have a lead and a mid-career researcher identified as co-lead, to ensure succession planning.

Specific lead activities: 

• Knowledge Mobilisation
  • A knowledge mobilisation lead must be included in the core team. This role should be no less than 0.8 FTE but may be split across two posts.
    
    
• Patient and Public Involvement Engagement and Participation (PPIEP) /Research Inclusion / Implementation and Academic Career Development (ACD) Leads
  • Leads for PPIEP, Research Inclusion, Implementation and ACD should be included in the core team.
  • Each must have the appropriate expertise and experience to do these roles and should be adequately resourced and costed as part of the core team.

Programme of Work

NIHR ARCs will be expected to adapt and respond to broad research needs as well as emerging national and regional needs through a programme of work with a maximum number of seven themes (excluding core). Those seven themes should include cross-cutting themes which will bring additional strength and depth, rather than being a stand-alone research theme      including, for example health economics, data informatics. ARCs will need to incorporate multidisciplinary teams that can respond to wider applied health and social care research, including health and care services researchers, behavioural scientists, economists, implementation science and knowledge mobilisation experts. Collaboration between ARCs and with HINs and other stakeholders who support adoption of research evidence into practice is a central feature of the new ARC scheme. Core teams should be adequately resourced to develop and maintain these relationships. Applications should set out how they will work with their system partners. Applications should also set out, in principle, how designated ARCs intend to work in partnership with other ARCs which have similar themes or shared methodological or cross cutting work programmes.

Selection Criteria

A funding committee will review applications and make recommendations for designation and funding of NIHR ARCs based on the following selection criteria:

• The strength of the strategic plan including the leadership and governance arrangements; ability and flexibility to meet national and regional priorities working with DHSC, NHS England and ICSs; demonstration of patient and public involvement and engagement; plans to embed health equity and research inclusion; plans to embed knowledge mobilisation and implementation, including partnership working with a wide range of practitioners from across the HINs, ICSs, local authorities, primary care, community and social care settings to deliver changes in practice.
• The contribution of the research portfolio to reduce health inequalities and deliver inclusive research to ensure research responds to the full range of communities living with high health and care needs and the greatest burden of disease.
• Track record of and future plans to support translation of effective interventions and models of care into health and care practice that meet the needs of the population and the health and care system.
• The strength of the strategic partnerships/collaborations and evidence of a commitment to collaborative working across the NIHR infrastructure and health and care system to support evaluation; implementation and scaling of effective interventions and models of care into practice; responsiveness to national and regional research needs and plans to act as a good citizen within the ARC Network.
• Clear plans to enhance capacity and capability to conduct high quality applied health and care research, including through provision of training which supports diverse career paths and promotes inclusion.
• Value for money.

Commissioning Process

It is anticipated that the NIHR ARC competition will be launched later this year. Full initial applications, including full financial justification for resources, should be submitted via the Research Management System (RMS). All applicants will be provided with feedback. Successful applications which meet all the selection criteria will be provided with feedback and invited to submit a revised application articulating how they have addressed the feedback, which will be further considered by the funding committee. Up to six key representatives from the proposed NIHR ARC team will be invited to an in-person interview with the funding committee at a London venue (details will be provided in feedback letters). The funding committee will then make recommendations to DHSC on designation and level of funding.

The commissioning process is anticipated to take the following form. Details on the timing of each element will be published in the full guidance for applicants:

• Publication of the intention to fund an open competition for NIHR applied health and social care infrastructure
• Launch of an NIHR ARC competition with guidance and an invitation to submit a full initial application
• Webinar briefing for potential applicants
• Closing date for receipt of initial applications (the expectation is that the initial application period will be 12-14 weeks but this is subject to change should the commissioning period be necessarily shorter)
• Funding committee recommends a shortlist of applications to be invited to submit a revised application which responds to shared feedback
• Invitation to submit revised application issued to successful applicants
• Closing date for the revised application (the expectation is that the revised application period will be 8 weeks, but this is subject to change should the commissioning period be necessarily shorter)
• Funding committee meeting with in-person applicant interviews
• Department of Health and Social Care confirms designation and funding for NIHR ARCs
• Contracts commence 1 April 2026