Internet Explorer is no longer supported by Microsoft. To browse the NIHR site please use a modern, secure browser like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Microsoft Edge.

Blog

Latest blog posts

Filter results

Audience
Funding Programme
Specialty

Latest blog posts

Striving to place rare disease patients at the centre of research priorities

Following Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid releasing England's first Rare Diseases Action Plan, Hannah Stark, Operations Lead at the NIHR BioResource, explains the importance of a national concerted effort to tackle rare diseases and the role of volunteer participant cohorts.

  • Published: 11 April 2022
Perfect storm blog tushna

The perfect storm: How COVID-19 public health messages may not serve ethnic minority communities

Research has uncovered how historical and contemporary injustice and institutional mistrust influenced how public health information was received by ethnic minority communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Professor Tushna Vandrevala describes how important it is to get government messaging right and the advice from her research on creating inclusive and effective health behaviour communications.

  • Published: 25 March 2022
NIHR and Stroke Association logos

Working together to rebuild lives after stroke

Richard Francis, Head of Research at the Stroke Association, writes about the charity’s new funding partnership with NIHR’s Programme Grants for Applied Research (PGfAR). He explains how together, we’re opening a funding competition for research that can improve rehabilitation and long-term care for stroke survivors.

  • Published: 17 March 2022

A FASTer way to accelerate innovation

Professor Mike Lewis, Director of NIHR's Invention for Innovation (i4i) Programme highlights how the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a shakeup of some research funding models and explains how the NIHR's new, pilot FAST funding scheme, will provide accelerated, simple funding to allow innovations to be further explored for follow-on investment.

  • Published: 07 March 2022
Professor John O'Brien - Dementia Blog

Has a pioneering new Alzheimer's drug paved the way for the future of dementia research?

Professor John O’Brien, NIHR Clinical Research Network National Speciality Lead for Dementias explains that despite different global decisions on whether to approve the drug aducanumab, the fact that this is the first drug to target one of the contributors of the disease is a significant stride forward in dementia research.

  • Published: 04 February 2022

Strengthening the research journey from ‘bench to bedside’

Professor Danny McAuley, Director of the Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME) Programme, writes about how the role of translational research in the journey from scientific discovery through to directly benefiting patients is more visible than ever following the COVID-19 pandemic and how EME is playing a crucial role.

  • Published: 02 February 2022

Putting our principles into practice on Neglected Tropical Diseases

The Kigali Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases, launched on 27 January with CMO Sir Chris Whitty and several heads of state, is a major milestone in global health. Professor Gail Davey, Director of the NIHR’s Global Health Research Unit on Neglected Tropical Diseases, and a leading authority on stigmatising skin diseases, argues that the Declaration both embodies the principles of partnership and ownership by low and middle income countries (LMICs), and provides the mechanisms to put these into practice over the next decades.

  • Published: 28 January 2022
PDG blog 2022

It's time for patients, service users and the public to lead development of new research ideas

The insight and input of patients, service users and the public has rightly become a standard part of research. Now research teams must share the reins with public contributors and allow them to take the lead, write Public Contributor Anica Alvarez Nishio and Steven Blackburn, NIHR Research Design Service West Midlands and Keele University’s Public Involvement Lead.

  • Published: 13 January 2022

Universities need to support the mental health and wellbeing of students

Improving our understanding of how universities can better promote wellbeing and support students is both a research and intervention priority, argues Professor Ed Watkins, Director of the University of Exeter Sir Henry Wellcome Centre for Mood Disorders Research and Professor of Experimental and Applied Clinical Psychology.

  • Published: 03 November 2021

Can the NIHR achieve true racial equity?

Dr Esther Mukuka, NIHR Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, states that both policy and actions are crucial in improving diversity and inclusion in research, and reveals what NIHR is doing to break down structural barriers. Her blog marks Black History Month.

  • Published: 28 October 2021
Prof Martin Rossor Dementia Blog

Dementia Research in the time of Covid

As part of World Alzheimer's Month, Professor Martin Rossor, NIHR National Director for Dementia Research, reflects on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected dementia research, and how it might look as we emerge from it.

  • Published: 30 September 2021
Kaleidoscope blog image

NIHR's next steps for working in partnership with patients and the public

NIHR has long led the way in partnership working with patients and the public to shape and conduct research in health and social care. In this blog, Jeremy Taylor, NIHR Director for Public Voice, highlights how we plan to improve our work in this area following a series of workshops with the research community and public contributors.

  • Published: 24 September 2021

A vision for multi-disciplinary housing and care research for people and communities

Glen Garrod, Executive Director of Adult Care and Community Wellbeing at Lincolnshire County Council and former president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), writes about how a new vision for housing and social care research can enable people to transform their care and health, and be more independent.

  • Published: 14 September 2021