This career development funding opportunity supports GHR NIHR Academy Members to undertake bespoke placements within a different part of the NIHR. You must tailor your GHR SPARC placement to your individual research training needs and background.
Through the GHR SPARC, you will be able to:
- learn new research and technical skills or techniques
- enhance your professional skills and knowledge
- collaborate with NIHR researchers based in the NIHR GHR programme or the wider UK NIHR infrastructure
- build your professional network
How much funding is available?
The GHR SPARC provides up to £10,000 per GHR NIHR Academy Member to undertake a placement. The funding will cover:
- travel, accommodation and subsistence to undertake the short placement
- relevant short training courses
- production of relevant placement outputs
Strategic themes
This award is open to all GHR Academy Members from GHR Programmes awards with a contract end date after 31 December 2026. The GHR programme focus areas announced in January 2026 do not apply to this award
Visit our eligibility and what you can apply for page for more information.
Who is eligible to apply?
To apply for this award you must be a member of the NIHR Global Health Research Academy and belong to an NIHR GHR programme with an end date after 31 December 2026.
You must also be actively pursuing an academic research career. This means you are either:
- currently undertaking a masters, PhD or postdoctoral fellowship
- holding a masters and are preparing to apply for a formal career development award
You must have secured your current position or award through an open competition. You must also have a formal training plan in place to support your development.
You must secure approval from:
- your NIHR GHR programme award, including your GHR programme award’s lead institution who will be the contracting organisation for the award
- your employing organisation, they will continue to support your salary, stipend or fees, or all 3, for the duration of your award
- the organisation where you will undertake your placement
Official Development Assistance (ODA) eligibility
This award is funded by ODA. The activities that you undertake during your award should benefit you and your career, but ultimately should benefit patients and the public in countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) list of ODA recipients (OECD DAC list).
Where can I undertake a GHR SPARC placement?
You will need to identify a placement host. There are lots of different parts of the NIHR that you might wish to undertake your placement in. These include a part of our ODA-funded Global Health Research programme including the GHR programme awards’ lead institutions and associated official collaborating institutions.
View more information about the GHR programme:
- Global Health Research Units (GHR Units)
- Global Health Research Groups (GHR Groups)
- Global Health Research Centres (GHR Centres)
- Global Health Policy and Systems Research (Global HPSR)
- Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation (RIGHT)
- Global Health Research Professorships
Visit our GHR training and programme placement and collaboration guide page to find a GHR host for your placement.
You could also do your placement in a non-ODA funded part of NIHR infrastructure, HPRUs, HPRFAs or an NIHR school:
- Biomedical Research Centres (BRCs)
- Applied Research Collaborations (ARCs)
- Health Protection Research Units & Health Protection Research Focus Awards (HPRUs/HPRFAs)
- Patient Safety Research Collaborations (PSRCs)
- School for Primary Care Research (SPCR)
- School for Public Health Research (SPHR)
- School for Social Care Research (SSCR)
- a part of the wider NIHR where you can undertake a placement with a researcher or research team that has a specific remit and focus
These are not exhaustive lists, and you can undertake a placement anywhere across the NIHR if you have mutual agreement and support between your employing organisation and your placement host institution.
Visit funding web page
(https://www.nihr.ac.uk/funding/global-health-research-short-placement-award-research-collaboration-ghr-sparc-cohort-6/2026368)
