The NIHR Research Professorships scheme is open for Cohort 17. These five-year awards fund outstanding academics of any profession to work at professorial level, translating new discoveries into better treatments and care and building research leadership at the highest academic levels.
Applications close at 13:00 on 9 December 2026. NIHR will award up to five professorships in this round. Shortlisted applicants will be interviewed in person on 7 and 8 June 2027, and awards start between 1 October 2027 and 1 March 2028.
What the award offers
Each professorship comes with a package of up to £2 million over five years. That covers your basic salary, up to three full-time support posts, research running costs, a travel fund, the option to request a sabbatical, and a leadership and development programme that includes access to the NIHR Future Leadership Programme. Award holders are expected to build significant international collaborations and show leadership at a national level.
Past NIHR Research Professors include Professor Waljit Dhillo, former Dean of the NIHR Academy, and Professor Lucy Chappell, now Chief Scientific Adviser to the Department of Health and Social Care and CEO of NIHR.
Who can apply
You must be based in England and be a health, public health or social care researcher or methodologist with an outstanding record in clinical and applied health and care research, and a track record of translating research into improved health and care. You should have spent no more than five years at your current level of seniority when you apply.
You cannot apply directly. You need to be nominated by an English higher education institution, NHS body or other provider of health, public health or care services, and a university must be involved as host or partner. Talk to your research office early, as each organisation runs its own internal nomination process.
NIHR particularly encourages applications from health and care professionals working outside medicine. All applications must meet the same quality bar, but if there are more fundable applications than awards, non-medical applicants will be given strategic priority.
How to apply
This is a single-stage application through the NIHR awards management system, following internal nomination. You will need to upload a narrative CV, a detailed research plan of up to ten pages, a career development programme, references, a Gantt chart and letters of support, plus a SoECAT if applicable. Leave time for your mentors and signatories, as late applications will not be considered. NIHR has also published a webinar on the scheme.
If you are weighing up the step to professor, our guide to academic promotion criteria covers what senior roles demand, and you can also learn about the NIHR Global Research Professorship scheme. Read the full call, eligibility and assessment criteria on the NIHR website.
Visit funding web page
(https://www.nihr.ac.uk/funding/research-professorships-cohort-17/2026486)