NIHR Research Support Service (RSS)

The NIHR Research Support Service (RSS) provides support to researchers to develop applications to national, peer-reviewed research programmes. This covers all NIHR programmes and UK Research Councils, as well as national health and care charities. The RSS supports translational, clinical and applied health, public health, and social care research. It can also support applications for fellowships and other personal awards. The RSS does not provide support to global health research, or research that involves discovery. It also cannot support research involving animals or animal tissues. The service is delivered by eight ‘hubs’. Hubs are a partnership of research groups and Clinical Trials Units (CTUs) with expertise in applied health and care research. There are also Specialist Centres for Public Health and Social Care, which provide more context-specific expertise. The Public Health Specialist Centres may support applications for local funding opportunities. The RSS offers collaborative trial delivery through their network of CTUs, and can signpost users to non-RSS UKCRC-accredited CTUs. RSS staff can be collaborators in your research, but will provide advice irrespective of whether staff or partners are collaborators.