What is an NIHR partner and why is it important?

NIHR partners are those organisations that:

• award research funds as a result of open competition across England with high quality peer review
• fund research that is of clear value to the NHS
• take account of Department of Health and NHS priorities and needs in their research funding strategies.

If you are an NIHR partner, your researchers can access NHS clinical infrastructure service support for study promotion, set up, recruitment and follow up.

If you are not a NIHR partner this support is not available, and researchers may need to include these costs in their grant application.

Is it just about money?

No - NIHR keeps a portfolio of research that it and its partners fund. The portfolio will be incorporated into the Research and Development Management Information System (RDMIS).

In the new system, partners will be able to see how a study is progressing and check patient accrual rates.

Clinical research funders who are not partners will lose out on this profile and information.

How is NIHR partnership decided?

NIHR use a series of questions to assess if a funder will be accepted as a partner. They look at each funding stream, and assess if the funding is given in open national competition. The more information you are able to provide, the better your chance of success.

What can I do if my funding scheme has been rejected?

You can ask NIHR to review your application at any time. Funding research is a minefield of different terminology and nuanced meanings, and confusion can occur, so you should ask for clarification on exactly why the stream was rejected. This will allow you to provide appropriate detail. You can also tell them if you have made changes to your processes.

What is AMRC doing?

Members will be aware that Simon Denegri highlighted the problems being encountered by some members on this issue in his blog. As a result we have had several useful meetings with NIHR, and the process of awarding partnership is currently being reviewed.

We are hopeful that AMRC membership will be explicitly cited as an indicator of quality in revised guidance to be issued early next year, and that charities will be involved in the governance process from that point forward.

Updated February 2010