NIHR PGfAR announces ring-fenced call for PGfAR proposals in October

Posted by: Holly - Posted on:

To colleagues in the health and care research community,

Building on NIHR’s Strategic Focus – Strengthening careers for under-represented disciplines and specialisms, NIHR are delighted to announce that the PGfAR Funding Opportunity, opening in October 2025, will be a ring fenced call dedicated to ‘Research inspired by under-represented disciplines and specialisms to drive transformational changes for patients and the public’.

Through this ring fenced funding call, NIHR Programme Grants for Applied Research (PGfAR) is seeking to grow a portfolio of applied health and care research programmes with leadership/co-leadership from underrepresented disciplines, specialisms and/or methodologists, that is: 

  • Registered health and care professionals (HCPs), who are not doctors or dentists (i.e., proposals cannot solely be led by doctors or dentists but in alignment with the above, a co-lead arrangement is permitted given the scale and complexity of research programmes).
  • Allied health professionals.
  • Research methodologists specifically the following disciplines: medical statistics, health economics, clinical trial design, operational research, modelling, bioinformatics, qualitative research, mixed methods and epidemiology.

The funding opportunity offers multidisciplinary research teams considerable flexibility to focus on any health and care topics within remit and scope of the NIHR PGfAR programme. NIHR welcome applications with leadership from underrepresented disciplines, specialisms and/or methodologists that present a coherent applied research programme of interrelated, multidisciplinary projects which individually and together produce outputs and outcomes that are likely to realise a transformative step change in the way the health and care services can meet the needs of the UK public.

The timing of this ring fenced funding aligns with highly relevant initiatives that NIHR look to research applicants to reflect on and respond to as they shape their research proposals including the UK’s Government’s Health and Growth Missions, and the DHSCs Area of Research Interest (ARI) 3 shaping and supporting the health and social care workforce of the future. Applicants are encouraged to align their research to these policy ambitions.

The amount awarded and the length of the funding period depends on the nature of the proposed work. In recent competitions, PGfAR awards attract funding of around £2.0 – £3.5 million across 4 – 6 years.

More details can be found in the PGfAR Funding Opportunity -October 2025 Summary webpage and also the Research Specification with the accompanying supporting information. 

NIHR will hold a webinar about this funding opportunity on 30 June 2025 at 10:30 – 12:15. In the webinar, you and your colleagues can learn more about  the ring fenced opportunity and DHSC’s areas of research interest 3: shaping and supporting the health and social care workforce of the future. If you wish to attend the webinar please see NIHR’s LinkedIn Event page through which you can complete the registration form.