NIHR Decarbonising the Health and Social Care System

Support for innovative research into decarbonising the health and social care system to help reduce carbon emissions and achieve net zero.

Established in 2006 and primarily funded by the Department of Health and Social Care, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funds health and care research in the UK.

The NIHR Decarbonising the Health and Social Care System funding opportunity will run annually for a period of five years (2024 to 2028), with total funding of £25 million. The aim is to fund research into decarbonising the health and social care system as part of NIHR’s climate health and sustainability commitments to help reduce carbon emissions and achieve net zero. 

About 4-5% of the UK’s total carbon emissions come from the health services, and the NHS is responsible for 40% of the public sector’s emissions. Huge progress has already been made with reducing the carbon footprint of the NHS, however, it is important to maintain the momentum of these efforts and also extend them beyond the NHS. The social care sector has also made progress, but at a slower pace than the NHS. More than 50% of health and social care providers lack an adequate environmental strategy to measure their impact on the environment. Research into solutions, evidence-based practices and interventions, treatments, and approaches focused on reducing carbon emissions and implementation at scale are key to enabling effective decarbonisation within health and social care systems.

Any research proposals meeting the scope of the funding brief and the NIHR remit of improving people’s health and wellbeing will be considered. Proposed research should seek to generate high-quality evidence, focused on decarbonisation of the health and social care system, that supports innovations and/or existing interventions, service models and care pathways (capacity building). Research into the development, evaluation and/or implementation of such interventions is all within the scope of this funding opportunity. Applicants must demonstrate proof of concept and a clear pathway of impact to be considered as innovations.

Proposals are welcome for new primary research studies and evidence synthesis. Research to establish the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of new, promising or existing solutions, and to support the translation of effective research and innovations into policy and healthcare practice is in scope. In addition, evaluation of interventions and models of care that impact carbon emissions is also within the scope of this funding opportunity. Research examining and developing approaches to measure, report and mitigate carbon emissions in the social care sector is within remit.

Applicants may wish to consider the following themes, however, proposals are not limited to these areas:

• Developing sustainable health and social care pathways.
• Reducing carbon emissions in healthcare through preventative and personalised care.
• Innovations in diagnostic, imaging and surgical services.
• Empowering patients to manage their own health.
• Self-management, prevention and earlier detection of mental health conditions.

Around 10-20% of the total funding is for research capacity development that: supports diverse career paths (including internships, pre-doctoral/Master’s, doctoral/PhD and postdoctoral); promotes greater equity of opportunities for under-represented groups, disciplines and professions in research; and offers funded career development posts in line with what is needed in the programme and where there is a need for building research capacity and supporting research careers. 

Applicants are strongly advised to consider assessing impact, which is not limited to patient outcomes and also includes the environmental, social and economic impact of the proposal. Carbon and environmental impact may be measured utilising existing tools, data repositories and methodologies.