The Public Health Research (PHR) programme evaluates public health interventions with the aim to provide new knowledge on the benefit, costs, acceptability and wider impacts of non- interventions intended to improve the health of the public and reduce inequalities in health. As this covers non- interventions the NHS will not pay for the implementation so you will need to demonstrate who will adopt the intervention once the study has finished.

Who it's for:
The scope of the programme is multidisciplinary and broad, covering a range of interventions that improve public health. Applicants from non academic sectors are strongly advised to consider collaborating with a higher education institution.

Funding:
The programme has an annual budget of £10m. There is no cap of funds that can be requested for a proposal and no fixed duration. The proposal should show that both time and money allocation is tailored to fully address the problem including long-term follow-up if necessary. (Average cost £700K over 3 years)

Process:
Most funding will be in response to applicants' proposals but there will be also some commissioned research into prioritised topics. Researcher-led proposals can be submitted any time during the year with three cut-off dates when applications will be considered by the Programme Advisory Board. The programme has two external expert advisory Boards: The Programme Advisory Board (assesses their importance to public health and creates a shortlist of projects) and the Research Funding Board (assesses scientific quality, feasibility and value for money of shortlisted proposals). Funding decisions tend to be made within 7 months of a call.

Criteria:
Applications will be judged on the following criteria:

• Explain how the results could reduce inequalities in health
• Demonstrate rational and existing evidence underpinning your project and the evidence gap or deficiency you aim to address
• Show the PPI involvement in the design and focus of the project
• Clearly describe the intervention and how it will translate into broader practice
• Clearly indicate the stage of the study - feasibility, pilot or definitive study. For a definitive study you will need to demonstrate sufficient evidence from preliminary studies - if you can't you may need to apply to PHR to conduct a pilot or feasibility study first

PHR Website