NIHR Climate Change and Health: Adapting Health and Social Care Systems – Development Awards

Support for research teams to build resilience into the delivery of health and social care services through interventions and solutions that are designed to minimise the impact of extreme weather events.

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Climate Change and Health: Adapting Health and Social Care Systems – Development Awards will fund research that addresses the challenges of climate change by building resilience into the delivery of health and social care services during severe weather events (made worse by climate change) eg extreme heat and flooding. The impacts are on infrastructure, staff and overall ability to deliver, especially for the most vulnerable groups or regions. This funding opportunity aims to:

• Bring diverse research teams together to develop plans for ambitious research and to catalyse future research capacity.
• Enable researchers to apply for larger research collaboration awards within this initiative.
• Support teams who are seeking support from other programmes within the NIHR.

Priority will be given to applications focusing on clear evidence gaps, and interventions and solutions designed to minimise the impact of extreme weather events on health and social care delivery. NIHR expects researchers to be cognisant of the Government’s net zero target when considering adaptations and interventions, and ideally for these to be low carbon. Applicants should consider the impact of the following in their proposals:

• Vulnerable groups and health disparities – climate change and extreme weather does not affect people equally. There are specific vulnerable groups and it is important that health disparities are factored into any research proposal.
• Areas that experience the most negative impacts of climate change eg dense urban areas and areas prone to flooding.
• Impact – researchers are asked to work with those who use, work in and manage services to focus the research where there will be most benefit.
• Translatability – it will be beneficial if emphasis is placed on applications for real-life scenarios, and researchers are encouraged to work closely with stakeholders to help ensure work focuses on solutions and is translatable.
• Economic costs – to support translation and implementation cost effectiveness of any interventions is an important aspect. Understanding the financial implications and benefits associated with various climate change adaptations can help inform local decision-making and will help ensure the outcomes of the research are economically viable.
• Adding value – research proposals will be expected to be clear about how they will complement and develop existing work, and how it will help deliver solutions.

Applicants are able to apply for a Development Award (up to £100,000) depending on the level of preparation required, leading to a possible future application for a larger Research Collaboration Award (up to £2 million) in 2026. Development Awards give funding to transdisciplinary research teams to support the development of collaborations, proof of concept and feasibility studies, development of access to data and data linkage, investigating gaps in knowledge, and similar work required to bring teams together and develop viable plans to carry out significant research in this area.

All successful Development Award holders will be expected to apply for a full Research Collaboration Award. The Research Collaboration Award will be available through open competition and will not be restricted to holders of Development Awards.

Capability to start promptly will be an advantage and applicants should be able demonstrate that Development Award projects can start from 1 September 2025.

This Climate Change and Health Initiative may be extended or repeated depending on research needs and priorities, and the response of the field.