The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has announced its next step to enhance health research capability in England.
The new NIHR Academy is responsible for development and coordination of NIHR academic training, career development and research capacity development. Its purpose is to develop a highly-skilled academic workforce capable of advancing research which improves health and benefits society. The new NIHR Academy replaces what was formerly the NIHR Training Coordinating Centre.
These roles will continue to complement our work at the Academy of Medical Sciences. As one of four national Academies in the UK, our research funding, career support and policy work advances biomedical and health research and its translation into benefits for society.
Professor Sir Robert Lechler, President of the Academy of Medical Sciences said:
”It was a huge step forward for health and biomedical science when NIHR was established in 2006. This latest development from NIHR is a move to strengthen and simplify its activities in providing training and career development from pre-doctoral to senior level, under the banner of a new NIHR Academy, and I welcome this as a consolidation of an essential asset to health research in England.
“The NIHR Academy brings together NIHR activities to streamline existing research funding and career training, as well as attract professional groups where research capacity is low, including nurses, pharmacists and social scientists, and to break down barriers to career progression, especially for women. It will build capacity in under-represented sectors such as primary care, public health and social care, and upskill the research workforce in disciplines such as bioinformatics and data science through six new ‘incubators’ co-produced and tailored to need through partnerships such as Health Data Research UK.
“I am pleased that the NIHR Academy will focus on themes that the Academy of Medical Sciences believes to be essential to promote medical science for patient benefit. For example, we share common priorities of promoting team science, increasing understanding of multimorbidity and improving the diversity of those working in medical science.
”Our long-standing relationship with NIHR is exemplified by their support of our widely acclaimed mentoring programme. NIHR support has helped us grow our programme, which has so far provided mentors for over 900 clinical and biomedical researchers, and to reach many more through our nationwide career development activities. The support provided gives researchers a fresh and objective outlook, signposts opportunities, and helps to equip them for critical career choices. Successive evaluations have shown the power of this approach.
“We look forward to continuing our close relationship with NIHR in future.”