NIHR Research Professorships (round 12) and Global Research Professorships (round 5)

Introduction

The internal selection process is now open to identify Oxford’s candidates for round 12 of the NIHR Research Professorships and round 5 of the Global Research Professorships. The objective of these awards is to fund leaders in the early part of their careers to lead research and to strengthen health, public health and care research leadership at the highest academic levels. The professorships enable the awardee to spend a fixed 5 year period dedicated to translational research at professorial level and develop research capacity to accelerate transfer of research ideas into improved health.

Each professorship award consists of a package to support a professorship, three support posts, research running costs, a travel fund, access to the NIHR Leadership Programme, the opportunity to request a sabbatical and the basic salary costs of the professor (plus indirect costs for the University). Successful nominees will be expected to start their award in October, November or December 2022.

Internal selection process

A co-ordinated bids process will take place to select Oxford’s candidates. Institutions are restricted to:

• three nominees for the NIHR Research Professorships (at least one of whom must be female and at least one of whom must be from an ethnic minority group) whose research has clear potential for benefiting patients, public health, or care users and carers in the UK
• two nominees for the NIHR Global Research Professorships (at least one of whom must be female) whose research has clear potential for benefiting patients, public health or care users and carers in LMICs

Those wishing to apply must submit an application form and a short CV through IRAMS by noon on Thursday 14 October 2021. Departments must also provide departmental approval for your application in IRAMS before this deadline.

It is not necessary to prepare an X5 costing for the internal application, but a costing will be required if you are selected to submit a full application to the NIHR.

Eligibility

Candidates will demonstrate a steep career trajectory over the last 5 to 10 years, on course to becoming the country’s most outstanding research leaders. They will currently be at an early career stage having spent no more than five years at their current level of seniority at the time of application. They should not already be established leaders in their field, but be on an upward trajectory to become leaders after the period of the award. NIHR Senior Investigators are not eligible to apply. Nominees who have been unsuccessful in previous rounds of the NIHR Research Professorships may reapply if they still meet the eligibility criteria.

Nominees will be working in the fields of experimental medicine, public health, health services research, social care research or methodological research. They should have a demonstrable record in effective translation of research into improved health, public health or adult social care.

All research funded by the NIHR as part of this award must fall within the following remit:

1. The overall remit of the NIHR is early translational (experimental medicine), clinical and applied health research, and social care research
2. NIHR does not support basic research or work involving animals or their tissue
3. If the work involves biomarkers:

• research that tests whether application of new knowledge can improve treatment or patient outcomes, and has obvious direct potential benefit, is within remit – this might include application of known biomarkers, or other prognostic factors, to refine and test novel therapeutic strategies
• research that aims only to elucidate mechanisms underpinning disease, or identify risk factors for disease or prognosis (including search for biomarkers) is out of remit

The NIHR will welcome applications from public health, social care and non-medical healthcare professions, including but not restricted to: health economists, medical statisticians, methodologists, epidemiologists, nurses, midwives, allied health professionals (speech and language therapists, occupational therapists etc), dentists, health care scientists, social workers, social care staff, social scientists, non-medical public health practitioners, clinical psychologists, analytical chemists, anthropologists, pharmacists, research scientists, nutritionists, medical physicists, medical engineers, radiographers, bio-mechanical engineers, bio-statisticians and bio-informatics.

For candidates who are not directly involved in delivering clinical, public health or care services, you must demonstrate how you will link with clinical, public health or care practice colleagues in order to deliver your research for the benefit of patients, public health or adult social care users.

Specific requirements for Global Research Professorships

Research can be conducted in the UK or LMICs, provided the research outputs are of direct and primary relevance to the health and care challenges of LMICs. It is expected that in the vast majority of NIHR Global Research Professorship nominees undertaking research in a LMIC will be a primary component of the proposal. Funds for research activity taking place in LMICs will need to be routed through the University.

NIHR Global Research Professorship nominees will be required to have existing strong collaborations or links with collaborators or partners in institutions in countries on the OECD DAC list in which they plan to conduct research. The award should plan to strengthen these and where relevant support training and capacity development/mentorship in these partners.

Candidates for a Global Research Professorship must show that their application fulfils ODA eligibility criteria with the research focussed on people in LMICs. Applications must demonstrate:

• which country or countries on the OECD DAC list of ODA eligible countries will directly benefit
• how the application is directly and primarily relevant to the development challenges of those countries
• how the outcomes will promote the health and welfare of a country or countries on the OECD DAC list

Where researchers wish to work with middle-income countries on the OECD DAC list, the application should demonstrate how the research will benefit the health and welfare of the poorest and/or most vulnerable groups of people in those countries and how their findings could have wider applicability to other low-income countries.

NIHR application

The internal call coordinator aims to notify all candidates of the outcome of their internal application by 27 October 2021. The University’s nominees will submit an application to the NIHR in their ARAMIS system by the deadline of 1 December 2021, allowing sufficient time for sign-off by both the University and your main partner organisation (the NHS or other provider of health or care services based in England, or your LMIC partner).

Further information about NIHR Research Professorship schemes and Guidance Notes for the two schemes are available on the NIHR website. Please direct questions to research@medsci.ox.ac.uk.

The University of Oxford supports the NIHR’s drive for greater diversity in the research workforce. The University agrees that it is of paramount importance that we include a wider range of perspectives and experience in research and recognises the value of taking positive action steps to promote the participation of underrepresented groups.