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Over £1.1 million of funding has been awarded to support 22 new research projects tackling key health and social care issues across our region.

The National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) for the North East and North Cumbria (NENC) has awarded funding to 22 original and innovative health and social care research projects through its Open Funding Competition for 2021.

The projects, led by collaborative teams from across the region, will share an investment of just over £1.1 million over the next two years.

The research projects were chosen from 128 high-quality applications from a wide range of groups, including those led by regional universities, the NHS and social care providers, local authorities, charities and voluntary sector organisations.

In 2020, the NIHR ARC NENC funded 31 projects totalling over £1.6 million, through its Open Funding Competition. This new round means that a total of 53 new health and social care research projects have now been supported – with an overall investment of more than £2.7 million.

Professor Eileen Kaner, Director of the NIHR ARC for the North East and North Cumbria, said:

“Our Open Funding Competition allows us to support some fantastic, original and high-quality research work that aims to improve health and social care within communities and groups right across our region.

“We have had a huge amount of interest in this round and reviewed almost 130 applications, which demonstrates the significant research potential in our region. The projects that were selected were all exceptional and we look forward to seeing them progress.”

Each of the 22 funded projects support the NIHR ARC NENC’s vision of ‘better, fairer health and care at all ages and in all places’ and aim to improve health and social care outcomes in groups, communities and sectors facing the greatest challenges.

They also link closely to least one of the seven ARC North East and North Cumbria research themes of:

Multi-morbidity, Ageing and Frailty
Supporting Children and Families
Prevention, Early Intervention and Behaviour Change
Integrating Physical, Mental health and Social care
Inequalities and Marginalised Communities
Knowledge Mobilisation and Implementation Science
Enabling Methodologies

Click here to view the list of funded projects