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The NIHR research workforce update for England sets out plans for careers, protected time, inclusion and research across health, public health and social care.
The NIHR Research Workforce Update shares a new plan for developing England’s health, public health and social care research workforce. Here is what it could mean for researchers, research careers and organisations.
Research should be part of the everyday work of health and care services, not something fitted around service delivery when time and money allow.
That is the central message of the new Research workforce update for England, published by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) on 16 July 2026.
The report brings together planned and existing work by the Department of Health and Social Care, NIHR, NHS England and other organisations. Its aim is to help more people across health, public health and social care engage with, deliver, use and lead research.
Although this is not a dementia-specific report, it has direct relevance to dementia researchers. Dementia research depends on hospitals, memory services, primary care, care homes, community organisations, local authorities and universities working together. It also depends on staff having the time, training and career support required to contribute.
Four priorities for England’s research workforce
The NIHR research workforce update is organised around four priorities:
- maximising the impact of research by making it part of routine service delivery and decision-making
- helping the workforce evaluate, use and adopt innovations, including data-driven technologies
- building a more inclusive and diverse research workforce across professions, settings and regions
- increasing the health, social and economic return generated by investment in research
These are broad ambitions, but the report also contains actions, deadlines and measures against which progress can be judged.
Among the commitments are twice-yearly NHS Trust board reviews of research activity, new expectations for organisations hosting NIHR awards and clearer routes between service and research roles. There are also plans to strengthen research in neighbourhood services, adult social care, public health, local authorities and voluntary organisations.
Career pathways remain a major concern
The NIHR Research Workforce Update acknowledges many of the problems researchers already know well: insecure careers, unclear progression routes, inconsistent access to protected research time and difficulty combining academic and service roles.
These barriers are not evenly distributed. Opportunities differ between professions, employers, regions and research settings. Staff working outside large teaching hospitals and research-intensive universities can find it particularly difficult to access training, mentorship and funding.
NIHR says it will strengthen research career pathways from undergraduate level through to research leadership. The recently launched Clinical Fellowships Leadership Programme is intended to help more postdoctoral clinical academics move into open-ended contracts, working alongside UKRI, Cancer Research UK and the British Heart Foundation.
The report also commits NIHR to making implementation of the Follett Principles a condition of funding across all its awards by 2027. These principles are intended to support the fair appraisal and management of clinical academics whose work is shared between universities and health services.
By 2027/28, the report expects to see evidence that research is embedded within NHS career structures, including the availability of hybrid service and research pathways.
These are welcome commitments, but they do not amount to an immediate guarantee of protected time or a secure contract. Researchers should watch how the principles are translated into employment practices, workload decisions and promotion criteria within individual organisations.
Research must extend beyond hospitals
One of the strongest parts of the update is its recognition that research cannot remain concentrated in hospitals and universities.
As more care moves into communities, research capacity will need to move with it. That means creating opportunities within general practice, neighbourhood health services, care homes, social care, public health teams, local authorities and voluntary organisations.
This is especially important for dementia research. People living with dementia often receive support across several parts of the system, yet some of those settings have had fewer opportunities to host studies or employ research-active staff.
The report points to the contribution already being made by primary care. During 2025/26, research-active GP practices recruited 88,625 people in England to studies supported by the NIHR Research Delivery Network.
NIHR and its partners now plan to develop defined approaches to research within neighbourhood services between 2026 and 2029. Research awareness and capability are also expected to be included in the adult social care workforce pathway by 2028/29.
The Care Quality Commission will develop guidance on how research should be recognised and assessed across hospitals, primary and community care, mental health services, adult social care and local authorities. This could give organisations another reason to demonstrate that they support research properly rather than simply describing themselves as research active.
Preparing researchers for data and technology
The government’s 10-Year Health Plan identifies AI, data, genomics, robotics and wearable technologies as five major areas for innovation. The workforce update argues that these technologies will only improve care if staff can test, evaluate and implement them properly.
NIHR therefore plans to increase data science capacity across its research infrastructure and Academy programmes. It will also develop the skills of research delivery and R&D staff, particularly in services and organisations that are newer to research.
For dementia researchers, this could support work involving health records, digital biomarkers, remote assessment, genomics, imaging and wearable devices. It should also reinforce an important point: introducing technology is not the same as demonstrating that it works.
Researchers will be needed to examine accuracy, accessibility, acceptability, cost and real-world effects, including whether a technology reduces or increases existing inequalities.
A more inclusive research workforce
The update recognises that research opportunities remain unevenly distributed across professions, demographic groups, sectors and regions.
NIHR intends to provide targeted training and early-career support in public health, social care, local authorities and the voluntary and community sector. It will also publish a Research Inclusion data progress report by September 2027, examining career journeys through NIHR Academy programmes and the effectiveness of work intended to widen the talent pipeline.
Building a more representative workforce is not simply a staffing exercise. Who is able to become a researcher can influence which questions are asked, where studies are conducted and which communities are included.
This has clear implications for dementia research, where some ethnic communities, socioeconomic groups, LGBT+ people, people with learning disabilities and those living in rural or underserved areas remain poorly represented in research.
The scale of existing investment
The report includes several figures demonstrating the scale and claimed value of current research workforce investment.
The NIHR Academy invests more than £230 million of government funding each year in research training programmes. During 2025/26, it funded more than 4,000 career development awards.
The Department of Health and Social Care has also provided £37 million to 89 medical research charities, supporting more than 800 early-career researcher posts.
According to the report, every £1 invested in NIHR generates more than £13 in benefits for the economy and society. NIHR Academy awards have generated £1.4 billion in commercial income since 2014.
The report argues that investment in research also benefits services by supporting staff development, satisfaction and retention. NHS organisations are expected to reinvest income from commercial research in local research capacity and delivery.
What should researchers watch next?
The NIHR Research Workforce Update provides several points against which researchers can monitor delivery:
- whether NHS boards begin reporting openly on research capacity, funding and activity twice a year
- whether NIHR-funded organisations implement the Follett Principles meaningfully by 2027
- whether genuine hybrid service and research careers become available by 2027/28
- what the Research Inclusion data progress report reveals in September 2027
- whether research opportunities expand across community, primary care and social care settings
- whether staff receive protected time, mentorship and recognition alongside new expectations to support research
The NIHR Research Workforce Update does not immediately solve the problems facing England’s research workforce. It does, however, put several long-standing concerns into a national policy document with named actions, measures and deadlines.
That gives researchers something concrete to use when discussing workloads, career pathways, training and organisational support with employers and research leaders.
The real test will be whether research becomes part of workforce planning and service delivery on the ground. If that happens, the benefits should extend beyond research teams to patients, carers, communities and the staff delivering health and social care.
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