Expertise Partnering Service
A free service connecting life sciences companies to relevant researchers across the UK research and health ecosystem.
What is the Expertise Partnering Service?
Our free Expertise Partnering Service (EPS) can support you to access expertise, funding, facilities, trial management support, data provision and patients by connecting your company to relevant contacts from the NIHR and wider UK research ecosystem.
For many companies, individual researchers, and international life science organisations, this is often your starting point to accessing the wide ranging services that we offer, and streamlining access to relevant contacts in the UK’s clinical research community.
It works as a matchmaking service, making your company visible to relevant clinical, care or research expertise to help drive forward your innovation. It provides you with the opportunity to propose questions to the research community about the challenges or considerations you need help to address.
It also supports commercial sponsors to:
- find patients and the public for feedback
- find early phase sites for delivery
- access health data and patient samples
- find relevant trial participants.
This service is most beneficial to companies if you contact us at an early stage in your research, however, we can help find expert collaborators to support you at any stage of your research.
How does the Expertise Partnering Service work?
Begin by contacting our dedicated Industry team to discuss whether the EPS is relevant to your company and evidence generation plans.
You will need to complete a non-confidential Partnering Form outlining information about your innovation and the support you require from prospective collaborators. Wherever possible, you should include non-confidential supporting information such as slide decks and research papers outlining existing evidence. We will identify relevant research sites and expertise from the NIHR and the wider health and social care system and share your submission with them as an opportunity to collaborate.
Interested collaborators will respond with expressions of interest. We will share these with you and arrange an introductory call for you to commence your collaboration.
The service is free and we aim to complete the matchmaking process within two weeks.
Who is eligible?
This service supports life sciences organisations and NHS trusts to find partners and to propel their research forward. We cannot support the marketing of products into the NHS.
Related information
This is just one of the ways we help life science organisations to conduct research in the UK. Visit our NIHR support for industry page to discover our full range of support. You may also be interested in:
- Explore all our services and support
- Read useful articles and guides on delivering health research in the UK
- View our spotlights on UK strengths
- View case studies of our support for industry
Contact us
Fill out our simple contact form to request a chat with our friendly team. We aim to reply as soon as possible and always within two business days.