Deadline: 6 September 2022.
NIHR 2022 Call for Applications for Individual Research Career Development Awards is now open
NIHR 2022 Call for Applications for Individual Research Career Development Awards is now open. NIHR Academy seeks high-quality applications for research career development awards from individuals who have a commitment to developing the evidence base to improve adult social care practice in England. Applicants can request funding of up to £50,000.
This may include individuals already working in social care in research, education or practice, or people with research expertise in an aligned sector, topic area or discipline who wish to bring their skills and experience to adult social care. National Institute for Health and Care Research(NIHR) is keen to support professionals working in adult social care who wish to develop their research capacity, as well as individuals who are already in research careers.
REQUIREMENTS / ELIGIBILITY – NIHR 2022 Call for Applications for Individual Research Career Development Awards
Applicants will need to make a strong case to NIHR SSCR for the proposed plan for their career development with a clear commitment to establishing a long-term career in adult social care research, including the organisational support they will receive, any training they will undertake as part of their workplan, and how this package will help them take the next steps in their research career or develop their research capacity.
Applications should fit with the remit of NIHR SSCR and show evidence of engaging with our priorities, as set out in our business plan. Elements of comparative work and career development with other UK countries may be considered, but the focus of the research capacity development is on England.
These awards focus on individual career development and are not suitable for research projects. Awards may cover, for example, support to:
- Dedicate time to focus on a research project or fellowship application to a significant funder of social care research.
- Undertake a personalised training and development plan which is clearly cemented into a research career.
- Undertake a formal qualification relevant to social care research.
- Enhance research skills to support evidence-informed practice.
- Transition from a social care professional career to be active as a researcher in adult social care over the longer term.
- Adapt expertise in an area outside adult social care to apply skills in adult social care. This, for example, may be to explore applying existing methodological expertise in adult social care.
Where applicants are applying for support to develop fellowship or research grants, the intended target funding stream, deadline for the application and broad topic area would need to be specified in the application for this award. A brief justification is required for why the topic chosen is a priority for adult social care and the targeted funding body. The preparation work that this award would support also needs to be clear in the application.
Research career developments awards will need to be hosted by an appropriate organisation. This may be the applicant’s current organisation (such as a university, local authority or service provider), or it may be elsewhere; this should be set out in the application form and confirmation of relevant organisation support provided. Awards can be held jointly (for example, if the applicant is a professional with one employer but the award will be held by another such as a university, or vice versa). Applicants are asked to consider how they will develop networks within adult social care research that extend more widely beyond their institution.
Successful applicants will be required to participate in the life of NIHR SSCR, including attending our annual conference and participating in bespoke training meetings. Each successful applicant will be supported by a senior member of the School.
Selection criteria for the NIHR 2022 Call for Applications for Individual Research Career Development Awards
Applications will be reviewed using the following criteria:
- Strong individual applicant
- Clear alignment with the remit of NIHR SSCR
- A strong case for personal development through this award
- A proposal clearly in line with the applicant’s current career stage
- Clear training/development plan that is integral to the award
- Clear end-point and objectives for the research career development award
- A long-term commitment to a research career in adult social care
- Strong and appropriate support in the applicant’s environment that will be sustained beyond the award to continue to help establish the applicant’s research career
- Value for money.
Duration of awards
The School will consider awards of between 8 and 17 months in duration. The duration of the award should reflect the nature of the development plan and be fully justified. Successful applications can start on or after 1 October 2022 but must commence no later than 1 December 2022. Awards must finish no later than 28 February 2024.
Funding available
Funding is available for awards of up to £50,000. Applications applying at the higher end of these awards will need to make a strong case for this level of funding. We expect to make awards across this range and do not anticipate making all awards at the higher end. (The School recognises that salaries for individuals at mid- or higher-level positions may be at the higher end of the budget available.)
Costs for the applicant’s salary, training (formal or short) courses and events, direct costs linked to the Fellowship are eligible. NIHR SSCR does not fund supervision costs.
It is for the applicant and relevant host organisation to determine whether to apply overheads. NIHR SSCR will only fund up to 25% of staff costs as overheads. These will be included as part of the budget requested.
Funding will be paid to the host organisation.
Application Process for the NIHR 2022 Call for Applications for Individual Research Career Development Awards
Expressions of interest should be submitted using the “Expression of interest” form by 16.30 on Tuesday 16 August 2022. This will enable us to plan our administrative work for processing the award.
The deadline for full applications is 16.30 on Tuesday 6 September 2022. Completed applications should be uploaded and submitted through the School’s website (see links opposite).
Declarations on the application form need to be signed by the main host organisation. Applicants should submit the form electronically – electronic signatures are acceptable. Where the declarations are signed in hard copy, a scanned version of these should be submitted alongside a PDF of the final application (scanned versions of the full PDF should not be submitted as they are not easily readable).
Commissioning process
All applications will be initially assessed to ensure that they are within the remit of this call, meet required criteria and that the form has been fully completed. All applications successfully passing this triage will be reviewed by the NIHR SSCR Executive Group and assessed by the Capacity-Building Management Team.
