Programme Grants for Applied Research

Latest announcements

'Early action to prevent poor health outcomes’ ring fenced call - October 2024

In Competition 46, which will open in October 2024, PGfAR is seeking to grow a portfolio of research programmes specifically designed to address the outcomes set out in  DHSC Areas of Research Interest One 'Early Action To Prevent Poor Health Outcomes'.  In this ring fenced call, larger programmes, leading to a stepped change in outcomes and delivering at scale and pace, may attract funding of between £3- £5 million across 5-6 years. Please take a look at our competition brief and consider how you could build a programme team that can deliver transformative research in the priority areas for the UK.

Remit Changes

From Competition 43 stage 2 and Competition 44 stage 1, launching in 14 February 2024 and 07 February 2024 respectively there will be some changes to the remit of PGfAR awards:

• In addition to NHS Trust, we are expanding to allow Higher Educational Institutes (HEIs) to contract for awards focused on public health and social care, where this may be more appropriate.
• For HEIs, up to 80% of FEC will be paid, provided that TRAC methodology has been used.

PGfAR and PDG are now open to the whole UK

We're excited to announce that the NIHR PGfAR programme and PDG awards are now accepting applications from researchers and organisations based in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, in addition to applications from England. This change will be effective for our upcoming competitions in autumn 2023, starting with PGfAR Competition 43 in October 2023 and PDG 38 in November 2023. We are looking forward to receiving applications from across the UK.

In order to stimulate the submission of competitive applications from the Devolved Administrations that are in scope for the PGfAR and PDG awards we hosted a webinar for interested researchers on 16 February 2024 1-2:30pm. Please email pgfar@nihr.ac.uk if you would like access to the recording and or slides. 

PGfAR Outreach Events for Devolved Administrations

We are hosting further webinars specific to each Devolved Administration throughout June and July. As well as in person events in October and November.  Find out more and register for the relevant events on our event page.

PGfAR Fast Track application process

PGfAR are always looking for ways to improve our funding scheme; to make the application process as useful and streamlined as possible to reduce burden on applicants and allow the funding scheme to be as responsive as possible to the UK’s research needs.

We have created 2 new Fast Track application processes. Please see our Fast Track Guidance for applicants for further information.

About PGfAR

The aim of NIHR PGfAR is to deliver research findings that will lead to clear and identifiable patient, service user or carer benefits, typically through promotion of health and wellbeing, prevention of ill health, and optimal disease management (including safety and quality).

PGfAR is researcher led and does not commission research on specific topics. However, research proposals must be in an area of priority or need for the NHS, public health or the social care sector, with particular emphasis on health and social care areas that cause significant burden where other research funders may not be focused, or where insufficient funding is available.

The awards fund NHS, public health and social care practitioners to work together with academic partners to tackle health and social care problems, and provide some stability of funding to support the long-term development of top quality applied research groups.

In recognition of the complex biopsychosocial influences at play in many multiple long-term conditions, programmes seeking to address the integration of health and social care to improve patient, service user and carer outcomes, and those that include work packages aimed at tackling the social care dimension of healthcare problems, are particularly welcome.

Programmes that use diverse methodological approaches to demonstrate patient, service user or carer benefits at an individual or population level, and/or include work packages specifically aimed at addressing important methodological issues in applied health and social care research methodology, are also encouraged.

As part of NIHR's drive to develop research capacity, PGfAR is now offering the opportunity to develop and advance health and care research capacity building. Applications that include research capacity development for methodological and under-represented disciplines and professions are particularly encouraged.

Scope

PGfAR funds programmes of applied research that generally comprise a number of high quality interrelated projects, usually described in separate work packages, that form a coherent theme, where added value is gained from the combination of the various strands of research. PGfAR are expected to demonstrate value for money; unless compelling justification has been provided, proposals costed over £3.5m are likely to be viewed as poor value for money and considered uncompetitive by the funding committee.

The research programme should:

• address stated local and/or national priorities in health, public health or social care 
• be conducted in and/or recruit from geographical locations of high health and care need, where possible
• clearly demonstrate how patients, service users and/or carers have been involved and engaged with the programme
• use a range of multidisciplinary and methodological approaches
• demonstrate the value of a treatment, package of care or service improvement on clinically relevant outcomes for those programmes addressing health issues. Intermediate outcome measures will only be acceptable where there is convincing evidence that these have a strong relationship with clinical outcomes. Similar criteria should be applied to public health and social care studies, where the outcomes should be justified in terms of demonstrating benefits linked to population health, or to service users and carers
• make a stepped change to practice and/or outcomes. Proposals that comprise application of existing interventions to new patient, service user or carer groups, or the wider public; that are only an incremental development on current practice; or are unlikely to have general application or uptake, are unlikely to be competitive
• address the integration of aspects of health and social care to improve patient, service user or carer outcomes
• include clear plans for implementation, knowledge mobilisation and dissemination

All NHS bodies and other providers of NHS services in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland may apply for programme awards, in collaboration with an appropriate academic partner or partners. For more information see our supporting information.

How long and how much? 

The amount awarded and the length of the funding period depends on the nature of the proposed work. The standard for PGfAR awards is funding of around £2-2.5 million across 5 years but larger programmes, leading to a stepped change in outcomes and delivering at scale and pace may attract funding of up to £6 million.

It is anticipated that programmes using novel designs will facilitate shorter, more efficient, less expensive programmes. As a guide, such programmes might be delivered over 3 years with costs of £1-1.5m.

Potential applicants can undertake appropriate preparatory work through a Stream A Programme Development Grant to strengthen their future programme.

Applicants to PGfAR can include funding for academic capacity development and training, across all stages of the academic career pathway (i.e. from internships to Masters to PhD to post-doctoral). As a general rule, between 10% and 20% of the overall project programme grant budget should be spent on capacity building within the grant. More information can be found in the research capacity building guidance.

When is funding available?

PGfAR has three funding opportunities a year that typically launch in February, June and October. See the dates for our PGfAR funding competitions.

How to apply

PGfAR has a two stage application process. Please see the  applicant guidance for stage 1 and applicant guidance for stage 2, and the supporting information, to find out more.  For detailed finance guidance, please see the detailed budget section in the guidance for stage 2 applications (section 11). Potential applicants can seek advice on their proposal from the programme team through the pre-submission enquiry form.

Capacity building within PGfAR research programmes should be in agreement with the scope detailed above.

Research proposals are submitted to PGfAR online through the Research Management System. Plans for research capacity building within PGfAR research programmes should be in line with the information for applicants. We supply a template application form for stage 1 and a template application form for stage 2 to help researchers prepare their proposal ahead of submission.

Apply now

What we fund

PGfAR will support:

• applied health research and social care research, including: health services research; public health research; social care research; economic evaluations; and modelling (e.g. decision analytic studies).
• research that is tractable, i.e. implementable, within the NHS, public health or social care sector
• qualitative research, applied epidemiology, observational research, use of existing data from previous research, or routinely collected health and care data to demonstrate patient, service user or carer benefits
• as part of a broader programme of work, pilot or feasibility studies for large, definitive trials, whose funding would be sought from elsewhere
• evidence synthesis and systematic reviews, and methodological research
• academic career development and training that addresses specific areas, disciplines, professions and career stages where research capacity development is particularly needed

The programme will not support:

• laboratory-based research, basic science research and experimental medicine. Applications containing elements of basic research or experimental medicine will not be funded if this research cannot be removed without compromising the delivery of the programme.
• animal studies or work on animal tissues.
• exploratory rather than confirmatory research; for example, 'fishing expeditions' to find risk factors. Validation of previously identified factors would be eligible for support.
• development of theory, although its validation or application would be supported.
• applications comprising solely a single randomised controlled trial (RCT).
• applications comprising solely of a collection of small RCTs that are unlikely to be deemed sufficiently coherent.
• applications consisting solely of evaluations of existing services, where the programme of work does not include work to allow the evidence-based development of these services.
• applications for funding to complete research originally funded by other organisations.
• applications for work that is not generalisable beyond the immediate service environment.

The selection criteria used by our funding committees include:

• the relevant range of applicants' expertise in conducting high quality applied health and social care research
• the importance and relevance of the proposed research to the priorities and needs of the NHS, public health, social care, patients, service users, carers, or the wider public and population
• the likelihood of significant benefit to the NHS, public health, social care, patients, service users, carers or public throughout the programme
• the quality of the research planned
• the quality of involvement and engagement of patients, service users, carers in developing and supporting the research
• evidence of attention to issues of equality, diversity and inclusion
• the value for money provided by the application

PGfAR success rates Stage 1 scoring criteria Stage 2 scoring criteria

Our people

Our Programme Director

Professor Marian Knight is Programme Director of PGfAR.

PGfAR subcommittees

PGfAR recommends research proposals for funding through its subcommittees. Programme Development Grant (PDG) applications are assessed by  a separate sub-committee drawn in rotation from the PGfAR Committee membership.

The stage 2 subcommittees are standing committees, whereas the stage 1 subcommittee and  PDG sub-committee are convened for each funding competition.

Proposals are first assessed by the stage 1 subcommittee, and then shortlisted proposals are sent for methodological and public review. Stage 2 proposals are sent for peer and public review, before being assessed by the stage 2 subcommittees. 

Professor Richard Watt and Professor Rebecca Kearney are the Co-Chairs of PGfAR subcommittee A. View the full membership of Subcommittee A.

Professor Simon Heller , Professor George Peat  and Professor Alan Smyth are the  Co-Chairs of PGfAR subcommittee B. View the full membership of Subcommittee B.

Meeting minutes

NIHR registry of interests

Contact us

We offer a wide variety of assistance during all stages of the research process. If in doubt, please get in touch.

Tel: 020 8843 8056
Email: pgfar@nihr.ac.uk
Our operating hours are 9.00am to 5.00pm

NIHR
Grange House
15 Church Street
Twickenham TW1 3NL

Do you need help getting started? Contact the Research Support Service.

Do you need assistance running your study in the NHS? Contact the Study Support Service.