NIHR Programme Development Grants

• PGfAR PDG researcher-led – stream A – pre-programme grant (2025/279)
• PGfAR PDG commissioned – stream A – NIHR NICE rolling funding opportunity (2025/280)
• PGfAR PDG commissioned – stream A – NIHR James Lind Alliance (JLA) rolling funding opportunity (2025/281)
• PGfAR PDG researcher-led – stream B – post-award programme grant (2025/282)

Application guidance

Please read our domestic full application guidance to help you complete all aspects of your application. You must read these alongside the information below, which details specific application requirements for this funding opportunity.

There are two Programme Development Grant (PDG) streams:

Stream A  – pre-programme grant

Development work prior to programme grant submission

Stream B – post-award programme grant

Further development of an ongoing or recently completed programme of research.

This can be:

• at any time whilst the research is ongoing, up to the last 12 months of the award, to conduct additional linked research of strategic importance to NIHR.
• in the latter phases (the last 12 months of the ongoing award and up to 18 months after the award has completed), conduct research to develop, analyse or disseminate the programme or its outcomes further.

Further details about this funding scheme’s scope and remit can be found on the PDG webpage.

Where guidance is specific to either a stream A or stream B PDG, this has been highlighted. Please pay careful attention to the guidance relevant to the PDG stream you are applying for.

Summary information

Contracting organisation

Who can propose programmes?

• All NHS bodies and other providers of NHS services in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, in collaboration with an appropriate academic partner or partners.
• Consortia that  include more than one NHS body or other provider of NHS, public health or social services.

Who qualifies as a contracting organisation?

• NHS bodies: where research is focused on health outcomes for patients, service users, carers and the wider public and/or involves NHS recruitment, services or data.
• Higher Education Institutions (HEIs): where the research is predominantly focused  on activities, outputs and outcomes related to public health and social care services typically administered by local authorities.

Is it possible that the academic partner could be a University outside the United Kingdom?

• Yes, if reasonably justified. Please make a strong case that the chosen academic partner was the organisation best placed to provide academic input to the planned research.

Note that in the online application form the host organisation defaults to the lead applicant’s organisation. Please make sure that this is updated where necessary. We will not enter into contract negotiations with HEIs proposing to host research for addressing health and care conditions relevant to the NHS and other providers of NHS services.

Stream B

Stream B applications are expected to have the same contractor as the main programme grant.

Duration (months)

PDG applications are between 12 and 24 months in duration.

Total cost to NIHR

Standard PDG research awards can be for up to £250k. The amount of funding awarded, however, is determined by the scale and nature of the research activity to be conducted.

Applications costed significantly over the £250k limit will likely be viewed as uncompetitive and poor value for money.

Lead applicant and research team

Lead applicant

The lead applicant may be a NHS employee, employed by a university, or employed in a professionally regulated practitioner role aligned to public health or social care. The individual would need to have an appropriate relationship with the host organisation to ensure proper governance and accountability. If hosted by an NHS body (or host provider of NHS services that is capable of fulfilling the role of research sponsor as set out in the UK Policy Framework for Health and Social Care Research) the lead applicant must have an honorary contract with the organisation.

Stream B

To aid capacity building, we will particularly welcome stream B applications led by early or mid-career researchers.

Co-applicants

Co-applicants are those individuals with responsibility for the day to day management and delivery of the project. Co-applicants, including public co-applicants, are considered part of the project team and are expected to share responsibility for its successful delivery. Do not include collaborators, who should be mentioned (if necessary) in the research plan section of the application.

The co-applicant team should possess all the necessary breadth and depth of expertise in methodological areas required to deliver the proposed programme of work (e.g. trial or observational study design, statistics, health economics, health services research, behavioural science, qualitative research methodologies, sociology etc.). Collaborators normally provide specific expertise on particular aspects of the project but do not share in the responsibility for the delivery of the project.

Please note that any joint lead applicant will be counted as a co-applicant.

Stream A

Up to a maximum of 15 co-applicants (including a joint lead) will be allowed for stream A applications.

Stream B

The committee considers a team of up to five co-applicants (including a joint lead) to be sufficient for stream B applications.

Applications do not need to have the same team as the full PGfAR, the most appropriate team to take the work forward should be selected. Applicants focused on the communication of findings to influence practitioners, policy-makers, commissioners and providers of NHS and social care services may wish to review NIHR advice on planning for impact.

Application details

Plain English summary (3,500 characters)

Stream A

Include how the background to the development work links to any future PGfAR award.

Stream B

Include how the background to the development work links to the current PGfAR award.

Detailed research plan

The proposed research should be realistic in scope and scale and deliverable within the time and funding agreed. It should be a maximum of 12 A4 pages in length, including diagrams, dependent on the type/complexity/scale of study proposed. Please include the following information when writing your research plan and see our domestic full application guidance.

Identify all stakeholders who are relevant to your research proposal, clarifying how they benefit from your proposed research and, where appropriate, how they have been involved in the development of the application, as well as the plans for their involvement in the proposed research.

Remember that the application will be reviewed by assessors who may not have a detailed understanding of the particular clinical, public health or social care area that your application relates to. As this is the main part of your application which will be considered by the reviewing committee you should ensure that the information is accurate, succinct, clearly laid out, clearly explains why the research is important, and provides adequate methodological detail.

Stream A

Provide details of your planned PGfAR submission, and how it will make a stepped change to practice and/or outcomes. The scope for PGfAR is outlined on the PGfAR webpage.

Stream B

Clearly explain the rationale and plans to:

• further develop, analyse or disseminate your existing programme grant or its outcomes.

  or

• undertake additional, linked research of strategic importance to NIHR (e.g., methodological research, issues related to public/community engagement and/or EDI, linked social care perspectives etc).

Background and rationale

Stream A

Please indicate under the description of how your project addresses the aims of the funding opportunity if you are responding to the following:

• NIHR highlight notice on brain tumours.

Describe the background and rationale of the development work and future programme. In addition to the information detailed in the domestic full application guidance, please include:

• The relevance  of the proposed research to the priorities and needs of the DHSC, NHS, public health or social care (including a statement of the significance of the research area, e.g. burden of disease).
• The barriers to undertaking the proposed future programme that will be addressed through the development work supported by the PDG.

Stream B

Please provide the NIHR reference number of the current programme grant award that this proposal relates to, specify the contractually agreed end date of that programme gant, and indicate whether you are applying for a current-PG (there is over 12 months remaining on the PG)  or post-PG stream B (less than 12 months remaining on the PG, or the PG ended in the last 18 months).

In addition to the information detailed in the domestic full application guidance, briefly describe the background and rationale of the current programme together with the research findings and impact to date.

Please clarify:

• The scope, novelty and ‘added value’ of further or parallel development work and how it would add value and significantly augment the programme as currently supported.
• How the development work would add value and further augment the existing programme and, as appropriate, its findings so far.
• Where appropriate, include how this work will increase the likelihood of the research findings influencing practitioners, policy makers, commissioners, providers of NHS, and/or public health and social care services, community organisations, and or patients/service users, carers and the wider public.

Aims and objectives

Stream A

Include how the aims/objectives of the development work will inform the future programme and where appropriate, any main hypothesis.

Methodology/plan

1. Project design and methods

In addition to the information detailed in the domestic full application guidance, please detail:

Stream A

The key deliverables to be generated by the development work and how these outcomes will help develop and inform the future application to the PGfAR funding scheme.

Briefly outline the proposed future programme, including:

• Aims and objectives.
• A description of the individual studies comprising the programme and anticipated methodological approaches.
• An explanation of how the studies comprising the programme link together/inform on another.
• The anticipated patient/service user, carer or public benefits and impacts arising from the component studies and the programme as a whole.

Stream B

The next steps to maximise patient, service user, carer and public benefits or to further inform policy development/evaluation. If you anticipate further research/development work is needed, please provide details, including the likely funder and timetable for submission.

Where development work to tackle an area of strategic importance to NIHR running alongside an existing award is being proposed, provide an explanation of how the work will be disseminated and also how this will contribute to the career development of the research team.

If no further plans are thought necessary, please explain why this is the case.

Please also consider:

• Success criteria and barriers to the proposed work.
  • Set out the measurements of success you intend to use and the key risks to delivering the development work. Also describe what contingencies you will put in place to reduce or eliminate each risk or its impact.
• Ethics / regulatory approvals:
  • Outline any potential ethical issues associated with this development work and the arrangements for handling them. If there are no plans to obtain ethical review, this must be clearly justified.
  • The work outlined in your application/protocol must adhere to the UK Framework for Health and Social Care Research (.PDF)

2. Timeline and milestones

Describe the progression of the development work plan, including the timetable, key milestones and deliverables.

Stream A

Please indicate the anticipated submission date of your PGfAR outline or full stage application, once the preparatory work funded via any stream A PDG award has been completed.

Pace the preparation of any future programme grant application. Future PGfAR funding opportunity dates are available on the NIHR website.

4. Your research team

Please list and explain the role of key collaborators involved in the research, as well as any patient/service user, carer and public leads (not previously listed as co-applicants).

Stream A

Where the stream A PDG funding will be used to strengthen or formulate a team and build collaborations, explain how this will be achieved. Clearly describe if and how the PDG funding, and/or the proposed programme, will contribute to capacity building/career development of applicants and of researchers employed on the grant.

Stream B

Where development work to tackle an area of strategic importance to NIHR running alongside an existing award is being proposed, provide an explanation of how this will contribute to the career development of the research team.

Project Management

Explain the practical arrangements for managing the development work. This should include specification of the roles and responsibilities of the individual team members who will undertake the development work, the management structure (i.e. reporting lines), the programme manager, frequency of meetings, financial management etc., and highlight the role of any advisory or reference groups associated with the development work.

If a joint lead applicant is included, justification should be given to demonstrate why more than one person would be required to lead this research and how this brings added value to the application.

Budget

For applications involving the recruitment, consenting and/or treatment of patient or service user participants, you are required to submit a Schedule of Events Cost Attribution Template (SoECAT) with your PDG application.

It is not necessary to submit a SoECAT if the development work does not involve the recruitment, consenting and/or treatment of patient or service user participants. If there are no NHS support or excess treatment costs associated with the research you must explain why you think this is the case.

Justification of costs (5,000 characters)

You should indicate here how this research will potentially benefit the NHS and/ or public health and social care sector. For example, where appropriate, describe the likely cost savings or benefits in terms of numbers of patients treated, treatment times, service users or carers supported etc. You should describe the value for money of the conduct of the proposed research.

Uploads

In addition to the mandatory gantt chart and references uploads, you may submit the following additional supporting documents, where appropriate.

Flow diagram (optional)

Optional.

Logic model (optional)

Optional.

Flexible upload (optional)

Supporting documentation including pictures, charts, letters of support, papers in press etc., where appropriate.