NIHR’s Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) programme has ring-fenced money for research led by allied health professionals at an early stage of their research career. Projects can be worth up to £500,000 over up to three years, and you apply with an experienced researcher alongside you as joint lead and mentor. Outline applications open at 1pm on 18 November 2026 and close at 1pm on 14 April 2027, with an expression of interest due by 10 March 2027.
This is the second RfPB round just for allied health professionals. The first, in 2024, awarded £6.3 million across 27 projects. It sits within NIHR’s wider push to strengthen research careers in under-represented disciplines and specialisms.
Who can lead an application
The lead applicant must be one of the 14 allied health professions recognised by NHS England:
- art therapists, dramatherapists and music therapists
- dietitians
- occupational therapists
- operating department practitioners
- orthoptists
- osteopaths
- paramedics
- physiotherapists
- podiatrists
- prosthetists and orthotists
- radiographers
- speech and language therapists
You must also be an early career researcher, which here means you have not yet been lead investigator on a substantial project award worth more than £100,000. Personal awards and fellowships don’t count towards that, so having held a fellowship doesn’t rule you out.
Your joint lead and mentor
Every application needs a senior colleague as joint-lead applicant. They can come from any relevant professional background, as long as they are an experienced researcher in a field linked to your project, have led at least one research grant (not a fellowship) worth more than £100,000 through to completion, and have experience of mentoring an early career researcher. Choosing the right person matters, and our guide on how to be a good mentor is a useful way to think about what to expect from them.
What RfPB funds
RfPB supports research about the day-to-day practice of health service staff that could make a difference to the health or wellbeing of NHS patients and service users. This round funds projects of up to £500,000 lasting up to three years, and RfPB’s tiered funding limits, which link how much you can ask for to how close the work is to patient benefit, still apply.
Does it fit dementia research?
Allied health professionals are central to dementia care, from occupational therapists and physiotherapists supporting independence at home to speech and language therapists working on communication and swallowing, and dietitians on nutrition. Applied questions about how that care is delivered are exactly what RfPB is for. For one physiotherapist’s route into the field, read Transitioning from Teaching and Physiotherapy to Dementia Research.
Webinar
NIHR is running a webinar at 2pm on 2 December 2026, where RfPB will introduce the programme and this funding opportunity, and the NIHR Research Support Service will explain the help it offers with developing proposals. You can put questions in through the Q&A, and NIHR will publish answers to the most common ones. Join 15 minutes early. Sign up for the webinar.
Key dates
- 18 November 2026, 1pm: outline applications open
- 2 December 2026, 2pm: webinar
- 10 March 2027, 5pm: expression of interest deadline
- 14 April 2027, 1pm: outline applications close
- 25 August 2027, 1pm: full applications open for shortlisted teams
- 6 October 2027, 1pm: full applications close
How to apply
This is a two-stage process. First, submit the expression of interest form by 5pm on 10 March 2027. Then submit your outline application through the NIHR awards management system by 1pm on 14 April 2027. NIHR strongly encourages you to start the online form early. Shortlisted teams are invited to the full stage, which opens in August 2027.
Before you start writing
If this would be your first grant as lead, read one researcher’s account of writing my first grant application, and listen to our podcast on grant writing tips from awardees and reviewers.
Read the full details and apply
Visit funding web page
(https://www.nihr.ac.uk/funding/rfpb-under-represented-disciplines-and-specialisms-allied-health-professionals-202627/2026517)