National Institute for Health and Care Research - Research Capability Funding

NIHR Research Capability Funding (RCF) is a research funding stream awarded to trusts on an annual basis which helps research-active NHS organisations to attract, develop and retain the research workforce necessary to deliver high quality health research.

For more details about RCF please visit the NIHR website:

Research capability funding | NIHR

Award to OUH for 2024-25

Applications for parental or long-term sick leave research costs (for individual supported by the NIHR) only

As in previous years, applications can be submitted to support the net costs incurred by the host organisation (OU or OUH) in meeting the salary of an individual supported by the NIHR who is on parental or long-term sick leave.

The request form (below) must be completed and submitted via email at the earliest opportunity.

Email: ouh.rcf@ouh.nhs.uk

However, due to uncertainty about the amount of RCF that will be awarded to OUH in 2024-25, awards made this year cannot extend beyond 31 March 2025.

Application form for 2024-25 parental or long-term sick leave (Word, 92 KB)

It will not be possible for researchers to request RCF to support other research-related activities this year.

Focused call

Researchers at OUH and OU are invited to apply for RCF funding to help develop competitive grant applications for any of the following NIHR programmes, provided the final grant funding agreement will be held by OUH.

RCF from this call will only be available to fund activities up to 31 March 2025, although it can be used to prepare for grant applications being submitted up to 31 July 2025.

The purpose of this focused call is to enable researchers to fund backfill activities and provide additional time for development of NIHR grant applications.

This investment is intended to facilitate success in securing the above NIHR research grants, which will also attract increased RCF funding to OUH in future years. The NIHR recognises this process as a 'virtuous circle'.

Applications will be reviewed by the RCF Panel, which will include senior researchers from the University of Oxford as well as OUH who have a track record of successfully securing and delivering grants under the above programmes.

The Panel will rank the applications in several domains and awards will be made to those which have the highest overall scores.

Applications from any clinical areas will be considered, provided they are eligible for one of the specified grant programmes.

The RCF funding requested should be in the range £20-50K and the applicant must ensure that the activities can be initiated in time for them to be completed by 31 March 2025, because the RCF award to OUH cannot be carried forward to the next financial year.

Applicants must complete the specific form for this call at the link below and submit this by email to ouh.rcf@ouh.nhs.uk by Friday 15 November 2024.

Application form for 2024-25 focused call (Word, 97 KB)

The RCF Panel's decision, which will be final, will be confirmed in writing to applicants week commencing Monday 25 November and funding for successful applications will be available with immediate effect.